Forgotten Hope
by Master Crane
Summary: "Some wounds can be healed, others not. Perhaps if you look deep on the right place you may find the cure for everything." Would be Master Crane able to find the cure for someone else?Or would his own past force him to cure himself? -CranexMei Ling/\ShenxFenghuang, PoxTigress, MantisxViper.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to Forgotten Hope, this fic is on current update and previous chapters may be re-edited to improve grammar, details, and etc...have a good reading.**

After the defeat of Lord Shen at Gongmen City and a rather unexpected conflict involving a secret criminal band of Komodo Dragons, Po and his friends, the Furious Five along with Master Shifu, Master Ox and Master Croc, remained at the town to celebrate the victory against Lord Shen.

They were all together at a local restaurant having a good rest and waiting to eat anything that was available. It was expected that Po would do something for everyone with the help of the restaurant's chief but Po said he wasn't on the mood for it and let the job for the chief. IT was clear that the recent events involving Lord Shen were still fresh at the panda's mind and disturbing him on the inside.

Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, Po and Crane were all sitting on the same table while Master Shifu was on another one With Master Croc along with Master Ox. Master Shifu was discussing some serious subjects and spared his students of a rather boring conversation.

"I'm glad everything is finally over, those damn lizards almost made me loose my cool, it's funny how Shen or any of his wolves never took notice of a criminal gang working in the city," Mantis said sounding tired.

"True to that, perhaps the peacock was to busy watching over his own to care about anything else," Crane said while admiring the structures around them, he was fascinated by the cultural diversity that Gongmen possessed.

"So, Po..." Started speaking Monkey all of sudden. "...how did you do that?I mean, that was some crazy movements out there!"

"Did what?" The panda replied blinking at confusion.

"Oh, well. Probably I mean about those cannon ball dodges you made!That was truly...how you say it?Awesome!" The simian said rather ironically.

"Yeah!" Agreed Mantis. "That was something amazing!I would like to do that too."

Po smiled softly at his friend's admiration for his techniques. The only problem is that to learn those moves wasn't a matter of training but of...how Master Shifu would call it?Inner peace!Something that they would need to achieve by themselves.

"I'll admit that I'm very curious about it," Said Crane looking directly at the panda.""How did you manage it Po?"

"Well...I...don't know...I...was in peace...you know...my...inner peace...and things just happened. I can't explain exactly how that happened, but...it was awesome!" The panda said with great enthusiasm.

Crane seemed surprised and, for some reason, somewhat disappointed. He forced a smile just to prevent the panda from noticing something strange.

"Really?That's great. I guess we all should start looking for our inner peace. I'm glad you found yours...too bad for Shen," Crane stared blank at that point.

"Shen got what he deserved," Said Tigress coldly. Normally nobody would reply for her hardcore speeches but it appeared to be that Master Crane was in a mood for talking on that day, something really rare.

"You think so?You really think that someone deserves to die the way he did?" Crane asked looking at the female tiger sitting on the other side of the table right in front of the avian. The avian tried to keep his expression blank, but he couldn't deny that he was feeling upset with the way Tigress said that. She stopped eating and raised her head up giving to Crane a threatening look.

"You know about the things he did, the kind of person he choose to be. I seriously don't have to waste my time explaining to you why since it's obvious. You're starting to have foolish thoughts Crane. I suggest to you to rethink about the way you're seeing things."

"I'm not saying that what he did was right or not. I'm just saying that-" Crane tried to defend himself but Tigress didn't gave him a chance to do so.

"What?!That he should have been take to justice?Locked on a cell for the rest of his damned life?Of course not!His punishment was death, he knew that it would lead him to such, what's the matter with you?Can't you see the logic on things anymore?" Tigress stabbed those words at the avian with coldness, but Crane didn't held back. A big mistake.

"I'm sorry if I'm getting uneasy at the fact that we usually kill our enemies every time we face them, it was said that we are heroes, but I don't see nothing much heroic on killing, nothing really honorable."

That last word hit a soft spot on Tigress.

"What do you know about honor bird?If the best you could do just few years ago was to mope the floor with a broomstick?" She nearly raged at him.

Everyone just kept silent the whole time not daring to move since they were taken aback by the abrupt arguing and didn't blink for a moment. Tigress's last words just raised an awkward and embarrassing silence over were the only presents were the Five and Po since Master Shifu, Ox and Croc left just few moments ago. Everyone gazed from Tigress to Crane to see what his reaction to that would be.

Tigress was staring furiously at the avian master that didn't move, his head was pointed towards the ground and his hat was covering his eyes and nobody knew what he was thinking or what would he would do now.

Slowly Crane took a step back and looked directly at Tigress. It was the first time ever that Po saw so much hate and disgust on the avian's expression, he had to admit that the difference was...scaring to say at least.

"At least I didn't have to kill nobody to clean things up," He said as he turned around to leave. Tigress moved forward but she was stop quickly by Monkey and Viper.

"Calm down! It's not the time or place for this," Said Viper on an urgent tone.

"Yeah, Viper is correct. The last thing you want it's to Master Shifu heard about that you and Crane were fighting in public," Supported Monkey.

Tigress was very angry with Crane, but Monkey and Viper had a good point. She took her seat and tried to calm down a little.

"I don't understand..." Mantis talked with Tigress for the first time after several minutes of silence."You and Crane get along so well, sometimes he gets along with you better than Viper, and why you acted so harshly?"

"I didn't act harshly!He started to say things that shouldn't go across his mind ever," Retorted Tigress undignified.

"Oh, you didn't?And perhaps saying things like 'bird' to Crane doesn't sound mean at all," Monkey mocked with some seriousness. Tigress growled at him and the simian quickly shut it.

"I understand Tigress," Said Po finally letting the words coming out of him."But Crane wasn't trying to be mean or anything...and what's the matter if he feels bad for people who died no matter who they were?Crane was just being...Crane. He's the one who prefer talking instead of fighting, isn't he?

Tigress stared silently at the panda with his words floating inside her ears. Po was right, Crane just acted the way he is and she didn't realize that before. But of all the other times she couldn't notice this one?What made her act so much aggressively?

Now Crane was mad with the female tiger, the avian never felt anger of Tigress, Mantis was right about Crane getting along with her better than the rest of them. Tigress would need to find a way to fix things.

The waterfowl left the establishment without looking back, his recent distress making him careless about where he was going. People at the street would immediately stop and comment quietly among themselves after the avian master passed by.

"Isn't he one of the kung fu masters that was along with the Dragon Warrior?" Asked a random goose.

"Yeah, he must be part of that furious something, whatever they are."

_'Typical' _Crane though with himself as he kept walking across the streets.

It did not surprised Crane that event after the incident with the Komodo Dragons and especially with Lord Shen people would still not be aware of who the Furious Five really were. All because Po had the biggest spotlight over him during the occasions being the great responsible for taking down the Lord, but still he didn't made that much about the Komodo incident, but people believed firmly that Po alone defeated them all.

Not that Crane would be bothered much by it, but he felt rather unjustified that all his efforts to help his friends were simply ignored or being poorly judged. Po didn't do all of it alone, but true to be told, nobody seemed to care much about what the Five did.

And them again Crane caught himself thinking about how they were defeated at that night at the factory, right after Po was shot. It shocked him deeply, but that wasn't enough for him to stop fighting and not taking down the factory along with the maniac peacock. True they had the numbers against them, but they defeated much bigger numbers before, how come did they simply lost to a bunch of wolves with no kung fu knowledge at all?

It took the waterfowl a lot of effort to find a proper answer for this. His teammates felt much more than he anticipated. Especially Tigress. Crane would never forget her expression after what happened with Po that night.

***Flashback***

_With Tigress out of action being totally immobilized by the shock, of what Po's supposed death might have cause, it resulted on the rest of the Five to be totally suppressed by the increasing number of enemies around them. _

_Crane had barely any room to fly due the several wooden structures. Monkey was quickly overwhelmed by wolves jumping over him leaving the simian immobilized. Mantis and Viper were thin and small, but they have no route of escape plus the fact they were still shaken by what happened with the panda. Seeing that his friends were being overrun Crane tried to fly high and escape, that was when he was cornered by the peacock._

_"Oh, it seems someone is not brave enough for this fight," Shen said with mockery and a rather sinister smile._

_Crane tried to gather all his hate towards the peacock. He took notice he was being surrounded by several wolves and there was nothing he could do to rescue the rest of the Five._

_"This isn't over Shen, you won't gain anything with this," Crane said rather bravely but in vain. Shen laughed at his words._

_"By the contrary, now everything will be mine, now that there's no stupid panda and his friends to stop me. You and your kung fu finally lost, now you can choose your own fate," Shen came closer raising his spear towards the waterfowl dangerously close. "You can surrender now and share the fate of your friends or...you can try fight and die here,"_

_Crane hesitated. He could try escaping, but a single mistake would cost his own life. Surrender didn't felt very honorable, and by sharing his friends fate surely would mean he would be executed along all the rest. _

_"Whatever," _

_Crane kicked Shen's spear on the blink of an eye right before kick-backing the nearby wolves. It took him a second to get airborne. All the wolves that were carrying arrows immediately start shooting at the avian. It was rather unnecessary to say how ineffective that proved to be. Shen slowly walked across the platform while contemplating the waterfowl struggling to avoid being pierced by dozens of arrows._

_Crane did not noticed but those arrows had no direct intent of killing him, but dragging how down slowly._

_As such happened Shen jumped down to the lower levels landing softly at the ground. _

_"Rather brave of your part waterfowl, but foolish. You should know you can't win, besides...you're too close from the ground," As Shen said that he unleashed one of his knifes towards the distracted Crane, it scratched the avian's shoulder with great effectiveness. _

_Crane yelled at pain before collapsing towards the floor with a loud thump. Before the waterfowl could get up Shen had his spear pointing over his chest._

_"Now enough wasting my time waterfowl, I have too much to do." _

_"Why you're doing this Shen?" Crane asked with a defeated tone while sustaining his injured shoulder._

_"Why?!As if someone like you deserved to know," Shen glanced over his wolves with authority. "Take him with the others, and make sure they're well chained this time."_

***End flashback***

Crane was walking down through a small street of Gongmen City that would lead straight to the outskirts of the city, lost in thoughts about his discussion with Tigress he wasn't paying attention to where he was directing himself to.

The waterfowl walked to the outskirts of Gongmen and vague silently next to the woods right besides to the city, barely feeling that his feet were no longer over hard soil but pure grass, he took notice of where he was after hitting hard his head on a low branch. The avian moaned in pain caressing his forehead with his left talon(or feet). Crane glanced around, he was very alone and it would be better this way, he wasn't on the mood to talk with anyone.

He kept walking deep inside the forest that was very natural like any other; a bit dark, cold, full of strange noises. And some of those noises were quite spooky, especially that strange moaning.

Moaning?

Crane shifted his head one side to other as he start to get the feeling that he wasn't alone so much as he though. The bird walked around still hearing the moaning, he had no idea from where it could be coming from. Suddenly he fell inside a small river covered by several leafs on the edges that made for him difficult to see what they would be hiding and now he was completely wet.

"Argh..that's just great," Crane complained with himself trying to dry off some of the water on his feathers, it didn't take long for him to notice that several feathers had become light red, he inspected carefully and realized that the water had blood in it. Crane glanced nervously through the woods trying to see anything, but it was hard to see more than four meters away. Walking around this place wasn't a good idea after all.

"As if this place didn't felt creepy enough,"

He followed the trail of blood keeping his eyes raised all the time, the more he kept following the blood louder the strange moaning was becoming.

"Ok...I guess it's nothing...maybe it's the wind...and maybe this river has something weird on it," Said Crane more to himself trying to relax his nerves, but the true is that he was freaking out slowly.

He ended walking for more seven minutes until he reached a small opening in the woods, then that's when he saw a terrifying sight.

There was a creature of some sort crouched next to the river over some leaves, pieces of wood, and what seemed mud. There was blood all over and Crane could see several deep wounds and burn marks on it. Then the creature raised his head.

Crane almost jumped few feet away. If he haven't seen that face before he would have no idea that Lord Shen was right in front of him.

The peacock was alive somehow but his appearance was nearly destroyed. You could barely see any white feathers and the clothes were almost entirely scratched, his tail feathers were cut, smashed, or burned, his chest had a small piece of wood craved on it. Luckily it didn't hit any vital organs, his legs were on strange angles and the neck was almost twisted and his head was full of bruises, one of his eyes still kept the same except that one was closed and had a deep purple color over the orbit. The good eye was staring to the avian, the expression on it wasn't visible, Shen nearly didn't react to Crane's presence, he just stared.

A sudden sense of uneasy and panic was growing inside of the waterfowl, this situation was too bizarre to be real. He froze watching over the disfigured form agonizing few feet away.

Crane had no idea of what to do. Should he kill Shen?Spare him of his pain?Then that would go totally against what he said earlier on the discussion with Tigress, but this was so much different...

Crane approached slowly of Shen until he was just few centimeters. Shen was still looking at him without reaction...until;

"Ple...l...me..." Shen's voice was incredibly weak but Crane could understand it anyway.

"Just..oh my..don't move..I'll try to help you, ok?" Said Crane_.'Did I just said that?' _He knew that he would get himself into big trouble, but he couldn't let Shen die slowly in front of him and even less he wouldn't kill the peacock. Luckily Crane still had his bag with him with some of his things on it, good for him that Mantis let his 'medicine' stuff in it.

"Here...take this...it will stop most of the pain," Offered Crane showing it to Shen by holding it on his right wing, it didn't took long to the avian master to remind himself that Shen could barely speak, much less grab things.

Crane applied the 'medicine' directly to Shen by simply shoving it into his throat without much ceremony, at which the peacock couldn't do anything to protest. Crane helped the peacock to lay down over some leaves, the Lord didn't show any kind of reaction to Crane. He was too weak and he was preserving his strength to breath and keep conscious.

"Master Shifu is going to kill me, or worse."_ 'Rather him than Tigress to be honest'_

Master Crane was now in a hopeless situation. He was helping to keep Lord Shen alive, but soon he would have to go back to the city, if he didn't return the Five and Po would start looking for him and he would be on big trouble. If they find Shen with him alive there was no doubt that the lord would be killed at the same very moment by Tigress, or he would be taken away to face justice and surely facing execution. But what to do then? He couldn't keep taking care of the peacock. If he just had someone he could really trust...

But then the avian realized that he had someone of trust. Didn't she always have a strong confidence on him since that day many years ago?Who else in this world to show the kindness that no one would had for him before. Mei Ling has been there for him many times, and Crane knew deep inside that she would not hesitate to come for his aid, no matter how difficult it could be she would help him again. Crane pondered over the possibility that she probably didn't hear about Lord Shen before. Hopefully.

Now how to contact Mei Ling and leave Shen with her?Unless Crane ask her to come to Gongmen City. Yunnán wasn't very far from Gongmen. It was worth a try to, after all if he counted on the mountain cat's agility to get here, a voyage she could easily do in few hours. Crane would have to find a way to keep treating Shen without nobody else noticing. That was going to be hard.

Crane spent more few minutes along with peacock that, apparently, was still too bad for any visible reaction and he was focusing on breathing and trying to not sleep. Crane wished he could help more and he would if he had a better place to be for it.

It would be getting dark soon and staying in the forest at night was too dangerous. Crane knew that someone would be looking for him shortly.

**Meanwhile...**

"Hey guys...where's Crane?" Asked Po few hours later after he and the rest of the Five had left the restaurant. Ever since the discussion that Tigress had with Crane things had been quite awkward for the rest of the day.

"I don't know. Didn't you look for him?" Replied Mantis with slight concern. Tigress pretended she didn't heard anything and kept minding her own. Viper stared at the panda distractedly, she wasn't much focused on the question since she had a lot of other things in mind at the moment. The only ones that gave him attention to the matter were Monkey and Mantis.

"Yes, I did!I can't find him!" Said the panda with some urgency on his voice."What if he got himself into trouble?We should look for him!" But the others didn't saw a reason to worry at all.

"Don't mind about it Po," Said Monkey." Crane is a grow up man, he can take care of himself. If there's something that he's good at is staying out of trouble. And after we settle everything that was wrong here what kind of trouble he could get into anyway?


	2. Chapter 2

Crane was carrying Shen on his back. It was no easy task since he had to make sure that the peacock wouldn't get more injured and that he was heavier than it appeared. Shen grunted weakly in pain at the movements that his body was forced to execute and Crane knew that Shen wouldn't handle it for longer.

The waterfowl tried to find a good place to hide Shen in one of the houses near the outskirts of Gongmen, but it was almost impossible to spot a possible empty house for the fact it was night already it would be easier to walk around without being noticed. At least that's what had Crane though.

"Hello there," Said a voice that almost made Crane lost his balance and that would have caused him and Shen to fall. The avian turned around to see no other than the Soothsayer next to him."Oh, Master Crane. It's good to see you again. What are you doing out here at this hour?" She asked. The old goat hadn't take notice that Crane had Shen alive and severely wounded on his back.

Crane tried to think fast on an excuse while he made sure that the Soothsayer wouldn't see anything else. Since it was dark and Crane also had white feathers like the peacock the Soothsayer wasn't able to distinguish Crane's form of Shen's form.

"I...wanted to walk around, try to relax a bit...in a calm and quiet place, hoping that nobody would see and disturb me," The avian said calmly with cold nerves.

"Hum..I see, after what happened on the last two days..." The Soothsayer said with comprehensiveness." Sorry for distracting you."

"It's ok," Replied Crane smiling while the Soothsayer turned around leaving quietly. The avian gave a sigh relieved."That was close."

Crane walked around for an hour before finding an abandoned farm-house not very far from the outskirts and it was next to a small river, that would be great, at least there was water. The house was small, made of wood with some old mobile, there was a bed on good condition, after getting inside Crane cleaned it the best way he could and searched for some blankets, he found some inside of a small closet.

Shen was placed over the bed carefully by Crane. The peacock's condition seemed to have improved, at least the bleeding had stop and he was more focused on what was happening around him, he even found strength to speak.

"W..wh..where am..I..."He asked looking at the kung fu master, he was surprised that Shen was speaking already.

"You're alive..I..found you in the forest and I brought you to a safe place so you can heal." Replied Crane making sure his voice was clear to hear.

"W...Why?". Crane hesitated.

"I...don't know...it didn't seemed the right thing to leave you there... bleeding to death..I.." He tried to explain but there was no logic explanation that he could give.

"You...you're one of them...those warriors that came to stop me..."

Crane tensed up slightly, he was expecting a more angrier tone of voice under that statement, but the way Shen said was rather cold and sinister. They kept staring at each other, Crane was doubtful about touching the peacock so he could watch over the injuries better.

Even feeling pain Lord Shen could think clearly over about the situation. The fact was...Crane saved him not because he had to...he wanted to. He watched the crane moving out suddenly to place his bag over the bed and removing all the items inside of it.

Shen still had questions on his mind, he wasn't really grateful for being saved, he didn't want to be saved! He had lost everything that made his life mean something; his army, his loyal officer, the Soothsayer, his palace, the respect of the people of Gongmen, his precious weapon...his parents...

Lord Shen cringed internally all the time when he thought about his mother and father, he would not talk about it, not even with the Soothsayer. But after the pathetic end of his campaign and the pain that caused he hadn't much to hold back.

"She said...they died because of me..." Whispered Shen but Crane heard anyway.

"What?" Asked the crane stopping what he was doing and looking at the peacock laying on the bed.

"The old goat..." Shen really didn't want to talk with Crane but he wasn't caring much of it now." She said that what I've done...many years ago...and the reason that why...I was banned... that..killed them...it's true?It's my fault?..."

Crane was startled. Shen was talking with him rather normally!And such personal subject?It was amazing for him the change of behavior that the peacock was presenting at the moment.

"You were banned?Why?" Asked Crane with pure curiosity, he hadn't know about that.

Shen seemed more hesitant now. Speaking over such subject with someone he had tried to kill few hours ago wasn't exactly a way to cheer up. And made him quite nervous to see this crane behaving so calmly with him, wasn't he mad or angry at the very least?

"I...the Soothsayer...30(or 20)years ago...had made a prophecy for me...she said that I would be defeated by a warrior of black and white. I supposed at that time that it could only mean about a panda...then I-

But Crane stopped paying attention almost immediately.A panda?That would mean that Shen?...

-..led all, but it appears to be that the one that escaped was the one that would...defeat me."

Several seconds passed. There was an odd silence present on the atmosphere of the room, the waterfowl stared at Shen, the peacock returned the glare also quietly.

"So...it was you that made Po...orphan?..." Crane asked with unspeakable huge guilty forming inside of him. He had save a murderer, a person who killed the family and destroyed the village of his best friend Po.

Now he could understand why Po was so disturbed at the times when he faced Shen, what would Po say if he find out what Crane had done?Although it wouldn't be worse if Tigress find out. Crane has always saw Shen as a threat, but now that he knew for sure that the peacock was a cold murderer. For some reason it was hard to believe at the present moment in time. Still he felt terrible, after all...Tigress was more right than even her could know.

Crane was feeling stupid. Stupid because of his "too soft' way to be, maybe that's because he never distinguished himself of the other members of the Five, only Tigress was able to do that, every time that him and the Five faced villains or bandits most of them would say that compassion for the enemy is what make people weak.

Crane usually would say that was a pathetic argument, in bad situation Crane would always remind the Five that fighting for the people they love and care make them stronger. The problem was...most times that they tried to spare the enemy by taking them to justice it would lead to the denial of the defeated and he would fight until death...Tigress would be the one to finish the job most of times.

It appeared to be that people didn't know what a second chance was. They though that after taking a path it would be impossible to change ways, the biggest example was Tai Lung. He could have changed if he wanted to accept that he was wrong all the time.

He didn't.

He refused to accept what happened and refused to be defeated by Po.

The result?...death.

Same happened with Shen that refused the defeat and tried to keep fighting even if it was hopeless.

The result?...*_almost*_ died.

Crane walked in circles in the room while thinking, Shen raised an eye brown at this strange behavior. Was the waterfowl getting paranoid already?

"So that's why your parents banned you...and you think they died because of that?" Asked Crane with a deep tone of voice, Shen took a while to reply.

"Yes...the Soothsayer said they...loved me."

It was incredible painful for Shen to say that, especially because the last time he said 'loved me' was 35 years ago. Crane was still walking in circles.

_'How can people die all of sudden of sadness?I hardly believe that to be possbile, unless they commited suicide, but that seems so strange. I'll think more about it later. The are other things that must be clarified,"_

"I was thinking," Said Crane suddenly. _'Oh my, really?' _Replied Shen internally." How did you raised an army?Who helped you?

"It was Wolf B..." Shen become quiet quickly. Wolf Boss...his first, and only, childhood friend. A man who followed his orders for his entire life, the responsible for gathering a huge army of wolves, for taking all the efforts to create his precious weapon, his most loyal servant...

Killed by the peacock.

When Shen saw Shifu, Ox, Croc, The Five and the stupid panda coming directly at him he never felt so much fear on his life, the desperation on him at that moment was evident. So much that when Wolf Boss refused, for the first time on decades, to follow his order Shen killed him in a moment of rage and pure madness.

"That wolf?I'm impressed...but if helped you so much...why did you kill him?" Asked the avian with some disappointment in his voice.

That was too much for Shen.

"BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID OF DYING!" Shen yelled ignoring the tremendous pain that his 'another' sudden moment of rage caused." I told him to shot at you all, he refused. I had no time or patience to take it at that moment!"

Crane, even if not aware of why, felt huge compassion for Wolf Boss. Appears to be that the big wolf had some sense in him after all.

"Shen...hum...I gotta check over you wounds, if you don't mind," Crane said rather nervously. The peacock was exasperated.

"Fine!But you better watch it or I'll cut your wings off if you touch were you shouldn't," He warned very mencingly.

Gulping a bit Crane aproached very slowly of the other avian, his eyes running over his body with extreme attention, he tried most of the time to avoid staring into Shen's ruby eyes. Those eyes easily could send chills over his spine.

Shen's legs were in a very bad state, but doing things and tricks that surely would have made Master Shifu the most displeased if he knew about, the waterfowl managed to heal up any fractures.

At least the peacock would be walking a bit after few hours. Now there was nothing he could do to get Shen's feathers back to normal, that would heal with time, but he cut off the burned ones.

Shen was very reluctant to let Crane cut off any of his tail feathers, since he would prize them more than his robe. Shen's robe was rather ruined, but Crane prefer to let Shen dressed with that than rather naked.

Learning this secret method of healing came very handy for Crane, especially since it was rather common for him to suffer fractures during some training sessions back at the Palace. He went looking into The Thousand Scrolls for something that could relieve his pain after rather exausting sessions.

Coming across such scroll was a great finding in his opinion. Shifu surely wouldn't teach them that for his own personal reasons, which was one of the few reasons that made Crane wonder about trusting over Shifu's teachings, especially after they learned about Tai Lung's nerve strikes techinique when it was too late.

If there was something that Master Shifu made sure of not teaching them is how to manipulate chi, something that only Master Crane managed to learn it by his own. Crane's aerokinetic moves, and attacks such as Wings of Justice were totally made by his chi. Of course this was a good reason of why Shifu never let Crane on charge of any responsibility, much to Crane's dismay. The waterfowl expected the red panda to give some valor over his personal efforts rather than judge them.

Wasn't necessary to say that Tigress always made less of Crane's chi movements, especially because Shifu never taught any of the Five how to do anything similar. Crane certain time offered to the female tiger how to use chi by her own. Tigress let pride blind her eyes to the opportunity and said that using chi was nothing but cheating.

Normally Crane would have love the chance to retort at this if he could, but after they were defeated at the Threat of Hope by Tai Lung that was using the same chi energy and taken down rather easily, the waterfowl had to admit it was a bit of cheating.

The waterfowl was forced to lie to his master about how he learned to manipulate his own chi. After inventing a great story, that involved his friend Mei Ling back at the academy and some mysterious knowledge of distant lands by a forgotten legend of kung fu, Master Shifu was fairly convinced about it and let Crane free to learn any more he wanted to, but under great restrictions. Not that Crane ever really let those restrictions stop him from learning more, as long he didn't perform anything suspicious in front of the red panda.

After improving some bandages with old clothing over the peacock's chest Crane felt he had done enough for the moment. It surprised him how quietly Shen took the treatment, even that he kept his eyes closed all the time, only letting out some painful moans.

Suddenly Crane realized that it was too late and he had to return or everything he did so far would be at risk.

"I need to return to the city but I promise that I'll be back, try to get some rest. I'll leave water for you before leaving," The avian gathered few things and flew outside to take some water and leave it for Shen, before he could leave again Shen went into a conversation.

"Hum...you didn't told me your name,"

Crane blinked. That was truly surprising to hear.

"You actually care?" Crane asked with suspicious.

"Well, it feels dumb to call you Crane since you are a crane, do you have a name or it's your name just dumb like that?"

Now to hear Shen being rude wasn't surprising.

"Well, maybe I would tell you if you just asked it more nicely," Crane said with a frown.

"For all I care you can go the hell," Shen retorted back hoarsely.

"Then why did you ask?" Shen did not replied. With a heavy sigh Crane left the room and flew back to the city. _'This guy is hard to deal with,'_

**Meanwhile...**

Po passed the last two hours walking in the city looking for Crane, he didn't notice how huge that this place really was. After one hour he was already tired and, as usually, hungry. The panda was still a bit upset that the other decided not to help to look for the avian, he could understand Tigress but not the others , even Viper didn't want to help, but since she said she was busy with other things she was a bit more understandable.

They rest all complained that they were tired, Crane would be fine and whatever else. Po spent at least 20 minutes searching for Crane by looking at the sky when just a quick glance would've been enough. The panda walked inside houses, much to the owner's honor, restaurants, stores, towers, bathrooms, pretty much anything that had a door on it.

"Oh men..." Po couldn't take it anymore."Where are you buddy?" Asked the panda talking with no one in particular but it was obvious for who knew that he was talking about Crane, the panda stop walking and stand still in the middle of an empty street, it was so late that nobody else was outside at the moment.

Without Po taking notice Crane was flying over the street where the panda was standing at, the avian saw the massiveness form of Po even at night, he flew directly to it and landed right behind him.

"Crane, come on buddy, without you kung fu isn't the same. I mean...who's gonna stop me from falling from high places avoiding my certain death?" Kept Po talking with himself. "I promise if you show up I'll share my super cool collection with you...and.."

"Your figure action collection?"

"Yeah, my figure action collection..."

"Also you'll stop making jokes about me, especially when I receive letters from Mei Ling?"

"Yeah, but Mantis and Monkey helped me during those...but I'll stop making jokes about you..."

"And stop messing with my calligraphy stuff?

"And your cal...wait," Po turned around to see Crane standing still trying to hold his laughter at the panda."Wha..how did you..I mean...how long have you been standing there?" Po was surprised, shocked and a bit embarrassed.

"Not much..." Confessed Crane."Sorry if I took too long."

"Nah, it's ok. I'm glad you're fine that's all. And about earlier...are you alright?I mean...I know that Tigress was a bit severe on what she said, but..." The panda was talking very carefully on an attempt to not annoy Crane with the fact.

"It's alright. I was thinking about it too and...she's right. I was not being...logic in my judgement."

Po gave him a tiny smile of relief.

"Alright, come on!We better go back before Master Shifu returns," The panda started running with Crane following him by air."Hey!Crane?" Called Po from the ground.

"Yeah?" Replied the avian.

"Can you give me a lift?"

Crane groaned."Oh man..."


	3. Chapter 3

(AD 817-?)

It was late when Po and Crane returned to the tavern that the Furious Five and the Dragon were momentarily residing. Master Shifu would be along with them shortly.

The Five were at the dining room, when Po and Crane walked in the group turned their attention , except for one, to the recent newcomers. There was a silence in the air that was filled with embarrassment and worry.

Tigress was trying to show that she hadn't take notice of Crane's presence in the room, that might have worked if not...

"Hey Guys!I found Crane!Look!He's here!" Yelled Po on excitement pointing at the tall white bird right next to him.

Crane just rolled his eyes at Po's childish attitude. Of course the avian shouldn't mind about the behavior of the panda. Po was always like this but he could try to take some simple things more seriously sometimes.

After a moment Crane realized that everyone was staring at him. He tried to avoid eye contact hoping that nobody would be doing questions about where he went after what happened earlier.

"So...Crane..." Mantis spoke quite calmly "...where were you man?Po has been bothering us all for the rest of the day looking for you."

_'Just great.'_ though Crane _'They could have said anything else first but noooooo, it had to be THE question..'_

The bird kept silent for few moments. The others waited for his answer, except for Tigress that was still trying to concentrate on eating her meal.

"I...was...taking a walk.I had to...calm down a little and review my..behavior," At this Crane turned to the female tiger "Tigress...I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry for my...bad judgement.I guess you was right, please forgive me."

The rest of the Five and Po were surprised at this. Anyone that saw what happened didn't thought that Crane should be the one apologizing.

Tigress finally turned her attention to the avian that gave her a tiny smile of hope. In his mind he was sure that she would choose her words carefully and present her apologizes aswell, but then the feline just returned her attention back to her meal.

"Whatever," She said with no concern about the subject at all.

Crane felt his smile slowly disintegrate to small particles of sand. She had just crashed his dignity more than ever. The avian was trying to hold his temper the best way he could to avoid doing the unthinkable.

Sadly he knew that he had to stay alive if he wanted to 'help' Shen to recover and fighting with Tigress wouldn't lead things to that way.

Po and the others flinched, as if they have been hit by a dart, when Tigress replied carelessly to the avian master. Master Crane just ignored everyone else and left pretending to sleep already without having dinner and saying a single word.

"Tigress!Come on!What was that for?He was just ap..." Started questioning Po with exasperation clear on his voice but Tigress interrupted him.

"I don't care panda," She said venomously "He knew he was wrong and just admitted, that's it."

"Yeah!..but..." Po tried to keep his argument but he wasn't a fast thinker. Tigress just ignored his pathetic attempt to defend Crane and left the dinning room.

"What's wrong with Tigress?" Wondered Monkey after she left. "I've seen her angry before because of less important things but this is..." The simian tried to find the proper words to end his opinion.

"Going too far?" Suggested Viper gently. Monkey nodded approving her words."Maybe she's just still a bit stressed you know. She was crushed when she though that Po died yesterday," The female snake said trying to justify Tigress recent behavior.

Po suddenly turned his attention quickly to Viper.

"What?Tigress was...sad?Because she thought that I..." The panda asked trying to sound innocent. Viper nodded to him confirming his thoughts. "Wow, I didn't know that..."

**Meanwhile...**

Shen felt his troath burning when he swallowed one of the medicines that the crane left over his bed. The peacock was feeling a bit infuriated that the crane had left him alone and having to treat himself. Of course he wasn't expecting that sticky legs to be his nurse but it was OBVIOUS that he was in no real condition of taking care of himself.

His legs that were broken on few different spots now felt a lot better. It was difficult for him to move any of his legs without making the skin and muscle injuries worse and feeling the excruciating pain. Even the medicine that he received to contain the pain had no much effect at such damage he had suffer. Thankfully the piece of wood in his chest was removed and the wound sealed, which wasn't too deep. Shen had to admit; for a kung fu warrior that crane knew something about healing ways. Even so Shen wasn't grateful. He expected death and he was ready for it, but then that bird showed up and brought him to more misery and suffering. Hadn't he felt enough pain?What he did to deserve this?

If there was someone who Shen truly would blame for this that person would be the Soothsayer. She was the one who told about the stupid prophecy and he had foolishly played along with it. Didn't matter how hard he tried to change it. It just ended the way she told it would happen.

Shen was no idiot. He knew that his attempts to change his fate just leaded it to happen, what if he had just ignored what the stupid old goat said?His life would have been so much different...he wouldn't have been banned, he wouldn't have to face a damned panda, his parents would be still alive...

His parents. Shen never felt the love they supposedly had for him. They always treated him different from the way that the Soothsayer treated the peacock. After all he was different from any normal peacock. Albino.

_'Why?Why me? _' Though Shen with great sadness _'Millions of people in this damn world...why me?'_

It was his fate. That was the only answer he could give himself. Fate. No matter how hard you try to change it. It happens anyway.

It wasn't fair.

At the sound of flapping Shen had awake of his deepest thoughts. He turned his head to the direction of the door next to him. Would be a stranger?If he was found by a villager or worse, by a citizen of Gongmen, his death wish would be granted.

When the door opened for Shen's big relief(and disappointment) it revealed Master Crane. The avian seemed tired. His eyes were barely open and he was having difficult to stay up. He lost his balance few times when walking inside the room. Something that you would NOT expect from a master of the White Fujian Crane Style.

"What happened with you?" Asked Shen abruptly. "You got drunk?"

"Huh?" Replied Crane confused."Oh...no. I just don't eat anything since...a long time. And Gongmen it's not really close from here and I had to make sure that nobody saw me leaving," Crane almost felt over Shen when he reached the bed and for the injured peacock that wouldn't have been funny at all.

Crane took of his straw hat and let it over the table next to the bed.

"Can you look it for me?I'm going sleep a little if you don't mind," He yawned while raising his right leg and placing his head under his left wing.

Besides that the crane was underestimating the Lord by sleeping next to him thinking that nothing would happen Shen felt insulted with such request.

"WHAT?Do I look a guard or servant to look over a stupid hat?" Shen replied undignified. Crane removed his head under his wing to face Shen.

"I'm not asking you to keep your eyes over it all night... just one time or other," The avian master said simply. Shen sighed heavily.

"Fine!Why the hell that is so important to you anyway?" He asked with no real interest by the subject.

Crane stared blank at his question. He was lost in old memories. The peacock took notice of the strange way that the crane was acting.

_***Flashback-(21 years ago)***_

_Crane had work since morning on the construction of the new fighting arena of the academy. It was a sunny day as it has been on the last two weeks and the heat was affecting him greatly. Crane was starving and very tired. Even so he would have to work for more four hours before getting a break for lunch. He just couldn't handle this for longer, this wasn't what he came for at first._

_He was given a chance by a 'friend' to join in the Lee Dai Academy of Kung Fu as a student. Crane had believe it at first, but after two months he realized he was fooled. It wasn't AS a student as it was promised BUT as an 'employ' of it._

_Now he was a mere janitor and had been temporarily included as a worker in a construction yard inside the academy. The worst part was that he wouldn't receive a thing by working in the project since he was already an employ of the academy making him 'cheap'._

_The sun was blighting strong and Crane could barely see anything but intense light. Because of this he had hurt himself sometimes with his working tools, the avian had several scratches over his legs and neck. Besides facing the nature of the sun he was having to face his team-workers. Everywhere, every time, everyplace they got the chance they would throw several jokes and laugh at him, especially because of his physical appearance._

_He was trying to find his way to the main path when he collided with someone. He fell on the ground harshly mbut apparently the person with who he collided didn't lost his balance._

_"Why you don't look where you going you idiot?" said a male voice. Crane was about to apologize to him when he heard another voice._

_"Yuang!Don't be like that!He can't see a thing, why do you have to be like this all the time?" The voice was softer but Crane could sense something different on it."Here, let me help you to get up."_

_Crane saw a glowing green glove right at his front. He held on it with his both wings and he was quickly lifted off the ground._

_"Thank you," Said Crane to the stranger. He could not see quite well yet but when, whoever it was, placed something over his head blocking the sun he was able to see clearly. Crane gasped. "Oh...Master Mei Ling!...I...I'm sorry for..."_

_Mei Ling just smiled sweetly and waved his hand at him dispensing the excuses._

_"It's ok, you didn't got hurt when you fell, did you?"_

_"Hum...no I didn't. I...I'm alright. Thanks for...this hat._

_"No problem, you can keep it. You need it more than I do," She said ignoring her partner Yuang, who was waiting for her few meters away._

_"Quick Mei ling, we're late!" Called Yuang._

_"I'm coming!You can go ahead!...what's your name?" Asked the female mountain cat turning her attention back to the avian._

_"Crane...my name's Crane," Mei Ling raised and eyebrow at him while she gave a small laugh._

_"Oh my... your parent's didn't waste much time thinking on a name, right?" She asked jokingly._

_Crane smiled nervously feeling a bit embarrassed, but also feeling a bit irritated with that statement._

_"Actually it's more as a nickname. My name is Huang...Huang Jien."_

_"Huang?Well, that sounds a lot better, how come I never saw you here before?Are you with the folks of the construction?" The mountain cat's curiosity was rather susprising for the waterfowl._

_"Hum...no. Actually I already work in the academy as janitor, but I was ordered to work here aswell. It won't cost that much for them," Crane said with a bit of hatred, but he quickly regret it. Last thing he wanted was to the best student of the academy hear him talking badly about it's administration. "Hum,..what I mean is...hum..." _

_Much to Crane's surprise the mountain cat held his beak with her glooved hand. _

_"Hey, don't worry. I know what you mean, and I believe those scratches all over you have nothing to do with doing laundry," She said it with so much compassion that made Crane blush. Nobody never show this much concern for him before._

_"Hum, yeah. I guess..." It was hard to not get nervous around this girl, she was so nice and kind, it was unlike any other the avian saw before. Crane felt so unsure as she quickly studied over his body with her eyes. Those kind of stares were what made Crane think she would judge him over his appearence._

_"You know, for a bird you look pretty decent," She said with a chuckle. Crane's eyes went wide. It was the first time some actually said something nice about his appearence._

_"Oh, I...I hope so," The waterfowl said placing a wing at the back of his neck nervously. Mei Ling's eyes seemed alarmed._

_"You hope?What's the matter Huang?" She asked sounding clearly concerned. Crane quickly raised both wings while panicking a bit over her question._

_"Nothing!Nothing wrong!" Crane said quickly, hoping he wasn't giving the wrong impression. "It's just...nobody never said something nice to me before," While Crane stared at the ground he never took notice of the expression of sorrow that the mountain cat made._

_"Oh, I..." even Mei Ling felt a bit unsure of what to say, perhaps this avian was going through a much harder time than she expected. "...I'm sorry to hear that, but...I'm sure you must have heard that of someone, what about your parents?" _

_At this Crane's face darkened slightly, he felt an urge of pain and anger he hadn't felt in a long time. Mei Ling quickly noticed this change and regreted asking, she thought she might have asked about something that probably was too personal._

_"It's...complicated," Crane managed to say. Mei Ling nodded slightly. She was deep curious to know more about the crane, he felt like to be of trust unlike most other guys she met. The avian carried that aura of innocence that she rarely saw on someone._

_"I understand, it was great to met you Huang, how about we talk more another time? I think I'm late already," Mei Ling said while walking pass by the waterfowl and staring at him. Crane liked the idea. _

_"Sounds great, it would be nice to have a friend," Crane paused at bit, he quickly noticed how terrible that sounded when he saw Mei Ling's eyes saddening while looking at him. "...err...to have someone to talk with," He tried to correct himself. The mountain cat just stared, her face revealing visible shock, that correction actually sounded even worse and Crane only realized when it was too late._

_"I see you later," Crane said before running away being too embarrased with himself to keep there any longer._

_***End of flashback***_

"It was a gift...from an old friend," Responded Crane after few minutes of silence. Luckily Shen had enough patience to wait him to reply.

"An old friend?Was this friend that important to you?" He asked kinda annoyed with the crane's concern over a simple hat.

"I can say that if it wasn't for her...I wouldn't be what I am today," The crane said with incredible simplicity as if he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.

Shen felt the curiosity run inside him. So a woman turned that crane on the warrior he was?How?Maybe he could find this woman and learn something interesting from her. Not that he ever believed woman of being truly capable of doing the tasks of great warriors.

Another thing that caught Shen's attention was that the crane's old friend was, indeed, a female. Was the crane speaking innocently or there was something else hiding inside his words?He would have to figure it out.

Before Crane could return to sleep Shen called him one more time.

"Tell me...your friend...how long was the last time you saw her?" The peacock asked with some anxiety on his voice that Crane didn't notice.

"Well...I guess...seven years...!...?"

Crane found himself surprised with the fact. _'It has been so long?' _The waterfowl tried to ignore those thoughts and return asleep but it was much harder now.

Shen took notice of the pain over the crane's expression and he smiled evilly. _'So appears to be that there's something else you're hiding isn't it?' _


	4. Chapter 4

Crane spent the last three and half hours sleeping next to Shen's bed. The peacock tried to move but he was in no condition for such. Now he knew why the crane would think that it wasn't really a concern sleeping around him. That idea made Lord Shen furious and embarrassed. He was weak. At his current state there was no possibility that he could fight even an miserable ant.

Pain...that's all he could feel. The pain would never end, there was no escape for him. The peacock saw Crane's bag laying next to him on the floor. Making sure that the waterfowl wouldn't see anything Shen grab it carefully with great difficulty , the injuries were starting to take Shen's patience to dangerous levels. Having succeeded on taking the bag he opened it.

There wasn't much to see. Few books, lots of scrolls, a golden medal...

Shen fixed his eyes on the medal. Why would the crane to be carrying such? There was a symbol in it that Shen instantly recognized as the symbol of Gongmen City. A medal that would only be given to those who would perform a great duty for the city.

_'Probably helping to defeat me and my army of wolves would be enough to earn such...'_ Shen felt disgust at the though of it. The citizens being over the guard of those kung fu warriors for so many years had deteriorate greatly the rumours about the possibility of the banned peacock ruling the city one day.

Shen thrown the medal away without thinking. The noise of the impacts were enough to awake Crane of his sleep. The avian stared at the peacock at wondering.

Shen didn't know if the crane was annoyed with him for the brute awakening or because Shen had Crane's bag laying open over the bed with all his stuff out of it.

But then Crane looked around and spotted the medal on the floor. He though for a while before speaking to Shen.

"I..guess that...that didn't made you happy," He said on a light manner hoping that the peacock wouldn't get infuriated. Shen didn't reply. " I know what you're thinking..but I didn't earn that because of what happened involving you."

Shen tried to pretend that he didn't hear anything but his curiosity won over him this time.

"Then what's about it?" The peacock asked feeling his throat burning while speaking for some reason. He coughed few times. Crane waited for a moment of silence before continuing.

"Well...some Komodo Dragons tried to take over Gongmen right after your...lost," Crane knew how to avoid saying the wrong words making the situation a lot less awkward by saying 'lost' instead of 'defeat'. "So we chase them for an entire day and we manage to stop their plans of taking over the city."

Shen was giving Crane a suspicious look. Komodo Dragons?He haven't heard of them for a long time. It was hard to believe that they would be around planning to make such move. How his wolves never took notice of any of them while guarding the city? Shen then realized that entering Gongmen City without being noticed was way too easy.

"Humf...so that's why..." Said Shen more to himself than to the other bird." Look...I don't want to be rude, as if I even cared but...why you're helping me?"

The question caught Crane by surprise. The avian though for few minutes but nothing really good came to mind.

"Because...it was the right thing to do," He answered hoping to avoid more questions about it ,but Shen didn't seem dispose to forget the subject.

"But why?Why it was the right thing to do?" The peacock was trying to put pressure over the crane to get some truths about the waterfowl's intentions.

Crane was feeling a bit on the edge now. Why?Hell, he didn't know why. He just did that because he felt he had to. Of course during that time he tried to find a good reason to help Shen. There was none.

"I..I...I don't know..." The avian master confessed looking away. Shen was a bit surprised.

"What do you mean with 'I don't know'?" The peacock was becoming frustrated."There has to be a reason!Nobody would do what you did without thinking twice at least!"

Crane ignored Shen. He didn't want to know the reason for it, it didn't matter anymore. The peacock wasn't used to be ignored when making questions to someone, normally this person would be dead for sure.

"I'm talking with you idiot!Look at me and answer my question!" Shen was becoming furious, suddenly he felt part of the pain he was suffering go away. The anger was making him stronger.

Crane still looked away acting as if he was deaf. Them from nowhere a sharp metal blade pass right next his neck and stabbed the opposite wall. Instantly the crane took a defensive stance. More blades were thrown at his direction but for Crane they were so slow that he manage to deflect them all away easily. He couldn't believe that Shen was attacking him without warning. After few seconds Shen ceased his attack because of the pain and exhaustion that he felt right after he started.

"That's a good retribution for all the help I gave you..." Crane said with a bit of sarcasm but also great disappointment. Shen didn't care about it." So after all you just try to kill me?"

Shen laughed. His laugh was so cold and sinister that made Crane a bit nervous.

"If..IF..I wanted to kill you...I would have cut your head out with the first blade," The peacock said without taking his eyes of Crane. "That was just a warning to you. Do NOT ignore me bird! I don't care if you saved me! I don't care if you're treating me! It's simple...you're the enemy. I didn't kill you yet because I DO need your help BUT...when I get enough healed you better watch your back because you might have nothi..."

"Are you gonna keep talking or I can go back to sleep?" Asked Crane interrupting the peacock. Shen was dumbfounded.

"Wha..?..Bu...Who..you think you..HOW DARE YOU TO SPEAK WITH ME LIKE THAT?Aren't you aware that I can kill you anytime I want?"

It was Crane's turn to laugh.

"Actually there's nothing else you can do now...you see...you had thrown away all your seventeen blades. And I know that because I checked on you while you were unconscious during the travel to this house. So unless your other weapon is yelling and threatening me I really don't have to worry anymore," The crane informed leaving Shen staring at him with anger and disbelief.

Shen tried to find more blades. Usually he would carry dozens of them, many would be hide among his feathers and a big part would be inside his robe. He found nothing else.

"You stole my blades?" Asked the peacock with pure hate. Crane sighed annoyed.

"I didn't stole your blades, after you got smashed I think that a big part of them just went lost..." Master Crane said that with so evident unconcern about the fact of Shen getting smashed by a huge cannon just to make the peacock even more angrier.

But Shen didn't fall for that. He knew that the other bird was really upset by the way Shen treated him.

"Whatever, once I get better you all will pay for challenging me. Maybe I spare your life just because you help me...maybe."

Crane rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long road to change the peacock's behavior.

"Feel free to rage all you want, after all I'm not even sure if you'll make it out alive despite surviving the cannon smash," Crane said morbidly.

Shen made a strange gurgling noise before looking at the other avian.

"What is that nonsense you talking about?" Crane raised an eyebrow.

"You really think that you'll make it out alive once they find you?"

Shen didn't reply straight away, althought it seemed he was very fond of giving a very nasty answer to the other bird.

Yes, Shen knew what it was all about. He never really believed he could just go around pretending nothing happened, not when every citizen in Gongmen City finally felt relieved to see and to know the peacock died at that very night. If Shen was to be seeing still alive it would take very little time for the whole city run after his head, and make sure it would be detached of his body in a very gruesome way.

Just to think about that was enough for Shen to grasp one of his wings around his neck. He didn't felt like living anymore, but he didn't want to suffer a painful and horrible death, which probably would involve having every single member and organ of his body splattered across the floor.

"S-sure I know t-that!I..."

Crane waited for the peacock to say something, but Shen was clearly too much distressed over his own darkening thoughts to think over any decent answer.

"Normally...I would say to not worry about that, I might figure out something that will make sure nothing happens with you...yet,"

"YET?!" Crane flinched at the sudden yell. It was quite difficult to sustain Shen's yelling sometimes.

"I can't promise you'll live forever...you know what I mean," Crane said tiredly while looking around.

Only when he saw a weak and thin spot of light on the floor the avian master became aware that the sun was rising and it would be morning soon.

"Damn, I need to get back before anybody notices that I'm missing. I'll be back later Shen. I'll try to research about healing treatments. Until there I suggested you to stay here. Not that you could get far anyway. Maybe you'll get out of here alive if we're lucky,"

Crane left in a hurry flying through an open window. Shen stared sadly for long minutes to the window then his eyes fixed on the medal that was still left on the floor.

"Maybe..."

**Meanwhile...**

Tigress was jumping over the roofs of the houses and buildings of Gongmen City. She hadn't sleep during the night. She was under so much stress from the last days that she decided that a good 'walk' would relieve the tension that was accumulating inside her.

She stopped by over one of the tallest building of the city. It was an incredible view she got from there, especially with the sun rising. Her eyes were absorbing each detail they could register. Tigress could see things that nobody would no matter how far they could be. She also had sensitive audition although it was not even close to Master Shifu's really sensitive ears. Sadly her nose was also sensible which means that if something would be smelling bad...she would suffer a lot.

Big part of the citizens of Gongmen were still sleeping which made the streets nearly desert. But it wasn't on the streets that her eyes were focused now...it was the sky.

Very far on distance she was seeing something coming in the direction of the city. The size of it was considerable which means that it wouldn't be a goose or anything like that. She waited few moments to discern the strange form. After a minute she could see what or who it was.

It was Crane.

Tigress eyes widened with surprise. Where, in the name of something, the bird had gone during night? Suspicious was forming inside her. She watched as Crane flew over the city and directed himself to the building were the Five and Po were sleeping. But unexpectedly the avian landed in a place in the middle of the town. Tigress couldn't see him anymore.

Normally she wouldn't care about what Crane wouldn't be doing by himself, especially after what happened in the last day. She turned around pretending to return to her room where Viper would be sleeping now, but she couldn't stop wondering about Crane's strange actions. She jumped from the tall building directly to another way below. She landed softly on her four and then jumped directly to the street. The street was deserted as many others. The female tiger had memorized the place where Crane landed and she directed herself to it. She saw some stores opening during her walk, most of the owners of the stores weren't used about opening early. Gongmen City was a very rich commercial center especially because of the geographic location. You could find anything you would want in here, even things coming from far places like Tibet or Japan.

After walking for a while she spotted Crane inside a medicine store. She was stunned. Had Crane got hurt or something?

But Crane wasn't buying anything, he was only talking with the female sheep that was attending him. The sheep seemed a bit impatient with Crane. The bird apparently was trying to pressure her while asking for something. Tigress was going to test how sensible her audition was as she managed to get closer without nobody noticing.

"..and it's just few minutes, I swear," Crane was sounding a bit anxious.

"I know Master Crane, but I do not have time to help you with it. If you want to learn it you'll have to learn particularly," The sheep replied tiredly.

"And were I'll find someone who does such treatments?" Asked Crane in disappointment while few customers had entered the store.

"I do not know. Now if you don't mind I have other people that need help," The sheep went next to newcomers to attend them. Crane just stared hopeless at the wall for few seconds, then he flew outside the store to another part of the city. Tigress followed him with cautiousness. She really wanted to know what Crane would want to learn that much.

The bird flew over the town for few minutes without taking notice that he was being stalked. He landed next to a small building with several different signs over it. There was a good number of people in front of it for this time of the day. Tigress got even more curious about why Crane would be passing by a message delivery post.

The bird waited in the line for his time to be attended. When it was his turn Tigress only saw him giving a scroll to one of the employs while saying few words. After Crane paid for the delivery he flew off again in a hurry.

Tigress was getting a bit confused now. There was no pattern in his actions that suggest what Crane would be planning. She just could only wonder for now while she was returning to the place were her friends were sleeping, Crane probably would be there too. Should she ask him where he was during night?The avian would consider it strange for her to be making such questions even after their 'fight'?

Of course the avian would try to see things through a logical point of view and in the case of Tigress...there would be no reasonable explanation.

The last thing she wanted Crane to know was that she had spied on him during the morning. Surely that would make no better for their friendship.

Finally she arrived at their spot but when she saw Crane waiting for her along with Master Shifu she felt as if her hearth stopped beating. When she came closer enough Master Shifu opened the dialogue.

"Tigress...as I was about to ask to Master Crane I'll ask to you too. What you two were doing outside so early in the morning?" The red panda asked calmly waiting patiently for them to answer.

Crane and Tigress stared at each others eyes quickly hoping that one would know what the other was thinking. But one though was pretty obvious;

"_Oh...damn." _


	5. Chapter 5

There were many things that Tigress wasn't afraid of. It was hard to believe that someone who fought hundreds of wolves, bandits, thiefs, murderers, bandits, kidnappers, Tai Lung, Temutai, The Wu Sisters, bandits, Lord Shen and bandits, would be so concerned about getting caught by a small red panda doing something that wasn't correct by his judgement. And Tigress knew very well how Master Shifu judge things.

She stared discretely again at Crane hoping that the avian would come with a great idea to take them out of a big problem, at least for her actions the tiger though she would be the one with it.

After the stare of the feline Crane gave a small nod, his talons digging into the soil trying to contain his nerves. He knew he had to think fast or he would be doomed, but Tigress would need help too. Crane had no idea why the feline was outside so early but the avian didn't mind it for now.

_'Come on Crane, think!What kind of excuse Shifu will fall for?_' The waterfowl's thoughts raced crazily inside his mind._'Think!think!...'_

"So?" Asked Master Shifu that was still waiting for an explanation standing still in front of the two warriors. Tigress gave to Crane another quick stare.

_'Calm down Tigress...I maybe have something...'_

"Hum...Master Shifu..it's no big deal," Spoke Crane after few seconds of awkward silence. "Tigress and I were making an early patrol at town because we heard rumors of wolves raiding stores and houses during night. Tigress suggested that we kept awake during the night to see if we could confirm those rumors. Thankfully they were just rumors. There's nothing else to worry about for now."

If there was a day that Tigress would show her admiration towards Crane this would be the day. But since the red panda was still in front of them and Crane was still mad at her she just waited for Shifu's reply.

"Really?" Asked Shifu staring at both of them. Crane nodded." Tigress, what Crane's saying is correct?"

"Yes master. I knew that you would want to be informed about it, but we couldn't find you yesterday before sunset. So we went in a patrol by ourselves," The feline master answered with determination and confidence in her voice.

"What about the others?You didn't ask for their help?" Inquired him raising an eyebrow.

"Normally it would be Tigress the one to say that just the two of us would be enough to take care of some wolves. But I'm the one who said that and the others were too tired and we still had strength for few fights," Crane responded for Tigress since he had already anticipated that question. Shifu nodded.

"I see...well, good work then. At least we won't have to waste our time with speculations anymore. You two should get some sleep before afternoon, I still have some business to attend," Master Shifu bowed and so also did his two students. The red panda turned around to leave but he stopped right after to warn them. "Oh...one more thing...we'll be returning to the valley tomorrow so get you things ready."

"Yes master," Responded Tigress and Crane in unison. After Master Shifu was way gone they expressed their relief.

"That was so close, nice catching Crane," Said Tigress a bit too friendly. The avian stared with surprise clear in his expression.

"Hum...thanks...I'm...glad it worked," The avian said a bit hesitantly. Tigress found Crane's behavior to be odd but then she reminded herself of why.

"Look...Crane..about what happened yesterday...I.." Tigress was having difficult to express herself. "...just wanted to say that I'm.."

The avian's comprehensiveness revealed once again.

"Tigress...it's ok!" He said smiling at her. "I understand about what happened and I know how hard to you that can be. I was just hoping that we could...be friends again without hard feelings. I mean...after so many years together I though that we had better relation than just acting formally at each other."

"Well, what did you expect?Besides I'm not Mei Ling," She said for no real reason. Crane felt his smile weakening. Did she really needed to use that name to make a comparison?

"Ok...I know that...I'm not trying to imply anything. But don't you see how Viper, Monkey, Mantis...well, nevermind Mantis, and Po get along so well? It's not that hard to be more participating or talkative for a change," He said while gesturing with his wings. Tigress seemed uncomfortable.

"I'm not that used to be friendly. When I was young I...but tell me one thing," She said interrupting her own explanation. "You're not like them as well. Actually you're the one who looks more like me than the others. You don't talk much, you're always in your corner not wanting to get involved with anything...the only difference is in fighting and how you talk with the others."

"What?" Crane felt a bit insulted. He wasn't like that!Was he?...ok, he was a bit shy sometimes and he really didn't like to call attention to himself. But he was friendly!...sometimes. "Ok, I'm a little different, but not that much.

"Oh really?Why so?" Asked Tigress, she was showing signs of irritation.

"Well...first off. I'm don't have anger issues and...I'm not hardcore," The bird responded with too much sincerity.

Next thing that Crane saw was a huge paw coming quickly straight to his face. He dodge the blow gracefully but with less effect that he pretended since he was caught in surprise. The punch missed by mere inches and the avian took few steps back to prevent another attack.

When Crane fixed his gaze at Tigress he was shocked to see her eyes glowing, not because of the light reflecting on them, but because of the tears that had formed over them.

"Tigress?...are you alri.."

"I'm not...hardcore," She said sternly trying to keep her voice firm. " I have feelings too!You know how much it hurts to hear people telling you that you're emotional as a rock?How it hurts when people treat you like you were just a heartless killer?A machine?A monster?..." She lost her voice after the last words.

The so feared female warrior was now sitting on the floor next to a wall with her arms over her knees hiding her face in shame. She was feeling humiliated by showing her weakness...to be crying in front of Master Crane like this.

Crane was in a deep state of shock. He never, ever, thought that Tigress would...cry. Then he understood what she was trying to tell him. Why she never talk about it with nobody?Not even Viper?Maybe Tigress had built a strong reputation and she didn't want to lose it by any chance...or that was just an excuse to hide something else?

Crane approached next to her and kneeled by her side. He waited for her to notice his presence, after few seconds she finally raised her head letting the avian staring at her face. It was odd for Crane that he was extremely nervous around other women, but for some reason with Tigress it was different. Now he had to find a way to console the woman next to him. That was a delicate task since it was Tigress, not just any woman. Maybe something really radical could work, only strong words would. He had an idea of what to say, but he was afraid that it would lead to a terrible way in the development of the situation. He knew that he needed to try anyway.

"I...there's something I never told you, but..." The avian felt he was going to regret a lot of this latter but continued anyway."...I kinda...had a crush on you after three years fighting together as the Furious Five."

Tigress eyes widened and she faced the avian giving him a 'are you serious?' look. Crane nodded. After few minutes she finally spoke.

"You...had?" She didn't sound disappointed, something that Crane was glad to notice. The avian adjusted his hat to cover his eyes from Tigress view.

"Well, I did have. It didn't work because of our personalities. I was too shy and you were...not much talkative."

Tigress gave a small chuckle.

"So as you," Crane laughed softly at her reply "Maybe you're right. I need to open myself a bit sometimes, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for a change just yet."

"If you want I can help you with that," Offered Crane.

"Well...you can start helping me to get up, this position left my legs numb."

Tigress stood still having Crane pulling her up with his left leg. She stood for a moment to be able to feel her legs again.

"Well, I guess we should get inside and sleep a bit," Crane suggested while looking around to see citizens finally showing up in the street. Tigress expressed her agreement by shaking her head slightly.

"But I'm concerned about awakening Viper, it's too early and you know how she is when she has an opportunity of taking her 'beauty sleep' time and someone interferes," Crane laughed.

"I guess we can go to my room then. Po and the pranksters are sleeping in the same room thankfully," The avian didn't notice the incredible odd look she gave him.

"Crane...hum...not wanting to mean anything but...you asked that right?" Said Tigress.

"Sure, why?" Crane asked feeling a bit confuse.

"No...nothing wrong with it," Tigress didn't saw any visible second intentions in the invitation." Can I ask you something?" Crane nodded while looking at the street distractedly. "Do you...think I'm...pretty?" Tigress tried to contain the clear hesitation in her speech but failed.

"Are you kidding me?You're beau...what?" The avian asked caught of guard. He turned around to see Master Tigress blushing and looking at him in bewilderment. He felt his face getting hotter at each second that passed. " I mean...yeah, you're pretty," He said hoping that it would lighten up the situation.

"Oh...well, thank you," The female tiger said in a very formal way. The awkward silence that followed was enough to make Crane regret about inviting Tigress to sleep in his room with him. Now that he though about it...that just didn't sound right!

_'Arrrghhh!Stupid!Stupid!Stupid!'_

**Meanwhile...**

The sun was rising and the citizens of the province of Yunnán were awakening. Normally at this hour of the day nobody would see any shop, store, restaurant, or anything at all open and working already, but that wasn't the natural way that the Kung Fu Lee Dai Academy followed.

Very earlier you could already hear lots of screams and weird noises at the site. Thankfully the academy was built at the Waterfalls Valley, a rather isolated area from villages or cities. The intense number of waterfalls in the surroundings generated an effect similar to a fog. The cold water hitting incessantly the rocks very below created a cold cloud that was spread all over the region and only could be dissipated by strong winds or during very hot days. Thanks to this it was very easy to get lost and fall from a cliff to certain death by heavy injuries, or getting drown by falling inside a freezing lake and with heavy chances of dying by hypothermia. It was a 'perfect' place to set a secret installation since mother nature could offer great safety against intruders.

Of course that Lee Dai was built in a safe place to prevent any attack to it, but that also would serve as a test of courage and ability to anyone that would want to join the academy.

There were two notable students that made, and one still do, part of the academy. One was the famous Master Crane, that in the present makes part of the notable Furious Five and the other was one of the most graduated students and now headmaster of the academy that was know as Master Mountain Cat.

After 20 years Mei Ling earned an incredible reputation not only inside the academy but in the whole China. Being responsible for finishing with several crimes that terrified Yunnán for decades and, the most notable of all, helping to defeat the Wu Sisters along with the Furious Five at Wu Dan province.

Mei Ling has been offered an occupation in the Imperial Palace, but for some reason she refused. She was the first woman in story of China to be invited to such high honor and consequently the first to refuse. The Emperor itself had made the invitation and he was very surprised with the denial. Mei Ling explained her reasons to the Emperor that understood it perfectly.

So many years at Lee Dai while fighting around and teaching students was starting to tire the mountain cat. She finally realized a dream from her childhood, but it was getting uninteresting compared with her new one discovered during the end of her teenage years.

Twenty one years ago she was the top student of the academy and the youngest one. She was a recent discovered talent in the region and the headmaster of the academy at that time was very proud of how skillful she was and he watched over her training for years. Her family was living at Neijing at that time so she was left alone living inside the academy. Many other students lived in the region so they would return to their houses in the end of afternoon. Sometimes the female cat was used to walk around in the desert academy during night. Even if she was making her best to develop her talents she couldn't deny that she was feeling lonely. Her colleagues never stay for more than few hours to talk with her or invite her to go to someplace. At first she was trying to make friends, but for her 'not so bad' luck there were only men that seemed interested in becoming 'too friendly' with her.

Mei Ling was forced to beat some dumbasses out of their lack of sense and respect sometimes. She wasn't defenseless and neither had a problem of good judgment over other people. It was getting stressful for her the efforts in kung fu and having to take men trying to get a 'talk' with her every time. For one moment she though that there wasn't one decent male soul in that place. Of course that was before she knew Crane.

After few weeks Mei Ling took take notice on the person that also walked around during night besides her. Except that the other person wasn't just walking but working instead. The cat wondered how she never noticed him before. The first time she talked with the bird was an incredible hot day during the time that the academy was improving the structure. She was surprised to find the janitor working in it. Maybe he was multitask...the poor guy was suffering with the heat and the strong sun. Accidentally he slammed into her stupid colleague, after he left she offered her hat to the avian. Mei Ling was amazed to see how skinny he was and it wasn't likely he should be working on such place. After learning his name she left to her duties. Though she would never forget how morbid his last words sounded before she left, something that messed with her feelings quite deeply.

Few weeks passed and she met with him again, but this time it would be very special. After passing the day training along with some rhinos it was night and the cat was resting on her room making her calligraphy tasks. The headmaster suggested that she should learn this art because one day she would need it during her travels around the Empire. Mei Ling found it to be very interesting and quickly mastered it.

She heard some noises outside and went to her window to check it out. What she saw was enough to impress even the headmaster. Crane was flying around making the cleaning for the tryouts. But it wasn't just ordinary cleaning, he was moving with such graciousness flying one side to another throwing plates, clothes, woods, with so much precision and effortlessly that she got hypnotized. She never saw such moves before. He made everything look so easy.

She jumped through her window to talk with Crane. The avian got surprised to find Mei Ling standing behind him. She told him how impressed she was and suggested him to try for the academy. Crane's shyness, denial and doubts were enough to make her see that he was a different guy. Someone that she was sure that it would never be mean to her or anything like it. She chuckled and while teasing him with a smile she told that he should try at least.

For Mei Ling's excitement Crane actually heard her advice and made himself present for the tryouts after few days. What she didn't expect was that the test consisted to pass through an obstacle course and capture a small red flag would be so hard to do. She was amazed at how many weaponry was inside it and for a moment she though that Crane would give up just by seeing it. For her surprise he didn't step back and kept waiting for his turn. Little she knew that he was terrified.

After all the other..well, rhinos had failed she saw Crane standing alone and the headmaster complaining at how nobody was able to carry out the task. Mei Ling took the opportunity and pointed at Crane while encouraging him by saying that he could do it. The headmaster looked at the avian in amazement for a moment then fell in intense laughter along with all the other people present. Crane's sad and embarrassed expression was enough to make Mei Ling feel guilty for the rest of her life. She tried to apologize to the bird hoping that he wasn't mad at her. The avian smiled nervously and said it wasn't a big deal at all. The headmaster thrown a sweep at Crane ordering him to clean the path. Crane cringed slightly at this and without paying attention he entered the course while sweeping.

The headmaster saw this too late and when he warned the avian it was too late. After nearly being hit by one of the traps the avian realized what happened. He glanced around and realized how deep he entered the course, getting out would be a great problem. The Headmaster tried to advice Crane to help him out but the avian wasn't more paying attention. He stared at the red flag that wasn't far away then back at Mei Ling, she smiled encouraging him to go forward. The avian took a step and quickly blocked an incoming attack with his sweep. Mei Ling saw Crane smiling, something was changing on him, she knew it. The bird started flowing through the course moving gracefully just like few days ago. She watched in awe while he dodged every lethal trap that was going in his direction, it was something she never saw before.

Crane captured the flag and went out of the course to met with her. Mei Ling grabbed the flag he was holding and along with his wings she raised it in the air celebrating his success. So did all the other students and the headmaster recognizing Crane's skills. For the first time the avian felt truly happy at that place.

After few days Crane and Mei Ling became sparring partners and there was no mission that they wouldn't go together to accomplish. Crane's skills improved greatly by the pass of time and they called the attention of a famous kung fu master that saw on him great potential. He invited Crane to become a student at the Jade Palace. Sadly that would mean that Crane would leave the academy for once and get to know other places and probably wouldn't come back. This happened after two years after Crane joined the academy.

What surprised most the mountain cat at this fact was that Crane tried to convince Master Shifu to invite Mei Ling along. For some reason the red panda denied his request and just said that he was giving only to him that opportunity, if he wanted to go or not it was the avian's decision.

For a moment Crane was seriously throwing that opportunity away. If wasn't for Mei ling's intervention on his decision he wouldn't have left. After a hard moment of goodbye Crane left to the new adventures that expected him while Mei Ling was at the gate watching him go away, she was relieved that the goodbye didn't take too long or she wouldn't be able to hold the tears that came out right after Crane left. If the avian had seen it he would have just gave up of leaving at the instant. She knew that it was better for Crane to go and become a great warrior, one that she would be always proud of.

After many years they would meet again but just for few days, Mei Ling was chasing the Wu Sisters and the Furious Five were in a pursuit to them too. When Crane and Mei Ling saw each other again it was a very remarkable moment. She was honored to be introduced to the Furious Five since she had heard a lot of them during that time. The most notable of the group was, logically, Master Tigress that surely wouldn't have any trust in the cat if it wasn't for Crane. The others were Viper, a very sweet person. Mantis and Monkey were what she would call...'lackers' of the group. She had known very well this type of men during her days at the academy and the two were obviously in the same boat as them.

The 'lackers' were the big reason of why the her re-encounter with Crane didn't developed the way she wanted. The both wouldn't stop acting as idiots all the time around Crane making jokes about him with Mei ling and things like such. Mei Ling got really irritated, but what disappointed her most was that Crane shyness hadn't dissipated after so many years. The avian didn't retorted, but had hidden his face under his hat in embarrassment.

After a memorable battle with the Wu Sisters, in which Mei Ling avoided Crane being killed by accident, she saw that they would've to say good-bye again. She never felt so much agony with such thing before. Mei Ling was impressed with how powerful Crane had become, especially by the fact he became an aerokinetic. It was a rare ability that probably only him could do.

More few years passed and with them the defeat of Tai Lung by the Dragon Warrior. Mei Ling was aware of what was happening in the Palace by Crane's letters. The avian would always be sending one or two per week since the day he left the academy. Somethings like learning kinectic movements he never told in a letter for personal reasons, but she could understand why.

Today Mei Ling was inspecting the rookies that were coming from Yan Pang region. Some foxes, deers and sheeps. All male. One of the reasons that Mei Ling admired Master Tigress was because she actually put 'respect' over any male that would face her. Master Viper was also a reference, but not much as the female tiger.

She wasn't getting much action in the last few months. After training for years several students to perform well in the local region she found herself without important tasks to deal with, she really never though about of the possibility of getting bored in this place. Sadly it was becoming a reality. She just wished she had an adventure after so many weeks of nothing.

Mei Ling heard a low flapping noise behind her. She turned around to see a goose dressed in a uniform that contained the symbol of Gongmen City.

"I have a message from Master Crane to Master Mei Ling," He informed to her. Mei Ling nodded.

"I'm Mei Ling...so...where's the message?" She asked while looking at the small bird, the goose delivered a scroll to her.

"Master Crane specified that you should read the letter only during your voyage to Gongmen City." The goose informed. Mei Ling shakes her head while thinking that she heard it badly.

"I'm sorry...what?"

"For you to read this message during your travel to Gongmen City, he requested you to go there the fastest you could."

Mei Ling stood there petrified. Crane requested for her presence without any further explanations apparently, if he specified she should read the scroll only during her travel...

What happened?What could be happening at Gongmen City?The only strange reports she had from anywhere near Gongmen where surrounding villages being assaulted by wolves, but since it was too far away she never really got much more information.

Before she could say anything else the messenger flew away leaving the female cat alone in her own concerning thoughts.

_'I just hope he's alright, I do know how Jien seems to get himself into trouble even at the most unexpected occasions,'_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you all for reviewing!Yeah, the last chapter was bigger than expected and came way sooner than it normally would...but since I was inspired in the weekend I said to myself 'why not?'. Mei Ling and Crane's history was easier to do than I though..I didn't remake any line, everything came out directly from my mind to the screen as if it had been wrote inside my brain and downloaded to the PC. I think that's what they call inspiration after all...**

**Well, I'm really happy with the results so far. I was wondering if I should make an entire past story about Mei Ling's adventures someday, since her character still needs a lot of improvement. But it would be impossible to do that without several references to Crane. Their connection is too strong to be ignored or leaved aside. **

**I need to bring the focus back to Shen in this chapter but for you happiness with Mei Ling 'maybe' getting involved already. Things just will get messed up for Crane. Don't worry, I don't plan to torture the dor..poor guy. I'll just kill him of embarrassment. Muahahaha...or maybe not. Nope, I'll take this seriously and keep the plot in straight line.  
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**YoYo;**

Hey, I'm really happy that you're so happy! :) Yeah,. that story was kinda a requirement...I couldn't introduce Mei Ling in this story without some information about her. I think it was way more than just 'some' heheh, I got excited and couldn't stop writing until the pain hits me hard. And the time..(03:00am) was another reason. I probably would have wrote over 7,000 words in trying to tell a good part of her past, but it was too much to handle. :( Even so the result was good enough although I can't stop seeing it as a 'simple resume' of what I had in mind.

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

You're always late man. :P What's happening?I haven't saw you much around recently...

**strange** **dude;**

Well...yeah, the crush was most likely going cross my mind for years. I really would like to see a Crane/Tigress pairing fic someday because all the 4 attempts didn't result in nothing because the authors suddenly gave up and people were reading them quite well...strange it is, this side of the force.

**Anonymosrules;**

I really appreciate you dedicate anon reviews, especially because you're specific about the way you analyse the plot and other things. I'm proud to know that you're liking it so much. I can't wait to reply to you again in the next chapter,

**eld mcm;**

Hahah, Lol!Yeah, maybe it can...

**International-Wonderland;**

Wow, thanks a lot for joining with us, I hope you get even more interested in the next chapters, welcome!

**Wise Schoolar;**

Well...you'll know soon.

_**7 hours**_ **_later..._**

The mountain cat had traveled in the last hours at great speed through several jungles and mountains. Mei Ling was amazed that, even been so close, Gongmen City was hard to reach thanks to the geometric adversities that surrounded the region's outskirts of it. She never passed by so many unstable places before in such a short time. She almost got herself killed sometimes for not paying enough attention to where she was stepping into.

After having reached the end of a chain of mountains she had the sight of the sea. It was just few kilometers ahead and Gongmen City was really small by being saw in the distance. She never came to Gongmen before on her life, she had heard many good things about it. The most notable of all was about the famous fireworks that were created at the city.

Mei Ling had the opportunity of seeing such artificial once, the problem was that it was used as a weapon against her. After fighting some wolves raiding a city few months ago she nearly got hit by a firework that was directed at her by one of the wolf bandits. The firework created a big dark hole in the wall of wood that was behind her, a direct hit would have been proved fatal.

Sadly at that occasion she wasn't able to stop the wolves and they got away with some minor injuries. She never figured out about what they would be looking for.

Leaving those thoughts aside she tried to focus in her current goal that was reaching the city. When she received the message from Huang she got really worried. Was him in a great problem that he needed to ask for her help?Was he badly injured?Being hold captive?She really didn't know...

_"Don't worry Jien...I'm coming."_

**_Meanwhile..._**_ *(6 hours ago)_

Crane opened the door of his room carefully to avoid making any loud noise that could awake the other members of the Five and Po. His friends hadn't awaken yet since Shifu gave them a free time to spent as they wish on the last two days before returning to the Valley.

_"We will be leaving in two days."_

Shifu's information was floating inside his mind and it was filling him with great worry. He had just send a message to Mei Ling to come to the town to see if she would be able to take care of Shen. Now that the crane knew that he only had two days left to watch over the peacock he felt the anxiety growing strong in him. The only thing he wanted to do now was to take a good nap. He never felt so much exhaustion before, he could barely keep his eyes open and hold still over his feet. He was losing his balance more and more at each second and he didn't know why.

"Crane, are you alright?" Asked a soft feminine voice. Crane looked around to(barely) see Tigress staring at him waiting next to the door. Her expression showed deep concern.

The avian tried to reply but he didn't find the strength for it. He felt like he was deteriorating like happened with Shen. Only when he feel to the floor was that Tigress noticed that something was really wrong with him.

"What's happening Crane?Are you sick?Have you been poisoned?" The feline asked with some urgency clear in her speech. Crane felt Tigress embracing him to keep the bird steady and conscious. The only thing that happened with that movement was a huge pain that he felt inside his head. Maybe he had got sick and now the signs were becoming clear. What if it was fatal?Would he die?No, it couldn't be...

Just when he heard a growl coming from his chest he did knew what was causing his strange disease. Crane slowly raised his head to see Tigress giving him an odd look. For a very moment Crane though that she was actually going to laugh. He kinda wished to see that happen someday.

"Crane, when was the last time you have eat?" The tiger asked raising an eyebrow. The bird smiled nervously feeling his face burning in shame.

"I...few...days?" He replied unsure. Tigress was surprised.

"Days?Are you crazy?You can hold that longer without passing out like you almost did now. You better get something to eat before sleeping, now if you don't mind I'll rest a bit. Try to not make much noise when you return if you don't mind." The female tiger went over the only bed in the room and fall asleep quite quickly.

Crane didn't say anything. He made a great effort to stand up and leave the room._ 'thanks a lot for the help Tigress' _Honestly if it was obvious that he was in such bad state why she just left him to turn around on his own?

What just happened just brought old memories to the avian. He reminded several other times that he got injured but none of the Five would show any signs of concern when he was hurt, apparently they though the bird could handle himself too well whatever happened with him.

For the first time in his life he felt old. Old and alone in a world where he had to fight every single day to keep living. He knew he was just getting tired of it. For some reason he couldn't stop having, since the battle with the Wu Sisters at Wu Dan, the uncomfortable feeling that he was wasting great time of his life that he could use to do something better, something different. Maybe his days of kung fu warrior where reaching to an end.

While Crane kept distracted with his own though he didn't took notice of a massive form that was in front of him. The collision was strong enough to make the bird fall backwards to the floor.

"What?...Po?What are you doing here?" Asked Crane when he recognized the strange figure.

"Oh, hey Crane. Sorry for taking you by surprise. I was just hum...going for breakfast!You want some?" The panda replied avoiding to look at the bird. Crane was suspecting that Po wasn't really going for breakfast but for something else instead.

"Sure, that would be nice. Would you mind to help me to get up?"

"Oh, yeah...sorry about it." Po apologized again while helping Crane to stand up.

"No problem. Sooo...what's for breakfast?"

"Well, I guess the usual. I was trying to see what kind of food they have here in Gongmen but I just found many weird stuffs coming from other places. Most of it it's sea food. You know...fishes and things like that."

"I could have some.." Muttered Crane trying to remember the last time he ate fish.

"Really?Maybe I can make tofu if you want." The panda suggested with great enthusiasm.

"You know how to make tofu?" Asked Crane amazed.

"Yeah!My father teach me once. He is not a fan of tofu believe me, but I'm aware of the ingredients and all the rest. Common, let's head to the kitchen!I'm starving already." The panda sprinted down the hallway. Crane rolled his eyes at Po's excessive happiness. Before he could follow Po he heard a door opening next to him.

"Crane?Are you awake already?"

It was Viper.

"Oh, hey Viper. Yeah, I'm going down to have breakfast. Po is already there." Crane replied while adjusting his hat that had fallen from his head when he collided with Po.

"Oh, that's nice. Do you mind if I come along?" She asked.

"Sure, let's go."

Both Crane and Viper went down the stairs. Crane was still having some difficulties to walk stably. Viper, without noticing anything strange with the bird, took this opportunity to talk with Crane in private.

"Tell me..are you going to do something later?"

Crane though for a while before answering.

"Well, I have few things to do today. Especially because I'm waiting to meet with a friend of mine. I need some information to a task I was given."

Viper let out a sigh of disappointment. She was hoping she could take a day out with Crane.

"Well...what about tomorrow?Do you have free time?"

"Hum, maybe. I'm not sure yet. But if I do I'll let you know, ok?" Replied Crane friendly.

"That would be nice." Viper said gently. _'I'll make sure you won't forget it' _

When they both reached the kitchen they saw the tabled filled with food. Po was having a hard moment with the owner of the establishment.

"Ok,ok. I know you have a cooker but what's the matter if I do the job for him only today? It doesn't kill, does it?" Complained Po with the deer.

"I don't care!You can just walk here and do whatever you want!If I have a chief it's for a reason, I can't have my customers making their own food!That makes me feel terrible!Now don't do that again!You're the Dragon Warrior!What people would say if they knew that you had to make you own breakfast because my chief didn't?Besides it's too early for breakfast, with the loud noise you was making you're going to awake everyone!"

Crane and Viper avoided to look to each other and laugh at the situation. They just walked in, eat while hearing a lot of arguments that seemed endless, and left to their own personal problems. Crane was feeling a hell lot better after eating so much. He just wanted to take a good nap and be done with it but for some reason he felt more awake than ever.

While Viper returned to her room Crane decided to take a walk(or flight) around(or over) the city. It was making a bright sunny day today. It wasn't cold or hot, just warm.

Crane then remembered that he still had Shen to take care of. He couldn't just walk around pretending that nothing happened in the last two days. The bird also need to wait for Mei Ling to arrive. The mountain cat was very agile and quick on her travels so he was sure that she would be reaching the town soon.

_'Maybe I should take some food for Shen, he need it too.' _

Crane look for those markets that Po told about that would sell fish. He found few next to the docks.

_'I wonder if Shen would eat those...' _

The peacock would also need new clothes. Crane cringed at the though. Shen would _not _accept to use cheap material for sure. Maybe an elegant robe or something. That would be problematic. He would have to search in every corner of the town to find what the Lord would _want_, not just need.

After passing half of the day flying and walking around Crane got some lots of food and few clothes. The clothes weren't the best that the town had to offer but he was hoping it would be enough for Shen. His only question was...would Shen like of the orange color?

Crane went close to the city's main entrance. I wasn't crowded as he tough. Maybe because it was almost sunset and people were preparing to finish their activities. Crane was about to fly to Shen's hideout when he heard someone calling him.

"Excuse me sir, do you know where I can find the Furious Five?" Asked a soft female voice. Crane turned his neck around so quickly that he felt it snapping.

"Me...Mei Ling?"

"Jien?It's that you?"

**A/N:Sorry if this chapter was a bit short, I had problems with my computer on Friday and I got delayed a lot thanks to that. I promise to deliver a bigger one on the next for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:0-0!Wow!I wasn't expecting so much replies at once!Thanks everyone!I think that updating on Monday is a good thing after all...**

**Well, I really appreciate the interest from all of you, I hope I can keep doing my best to keep this way.**

**So...the replies for most of you...**

**But!Before that I would like to say that I had enough of the KFP LOA series. Seriously, episodes 22,23 we the worst thing I've ever watch!They are not just out character but they look complete different people!Mr. Ping and Scorpion?With that goes the(horrific!)Crane and a pig?(sorry for the language but...bite me!)Tigress crush on Shifu?(probably around her teenage years..)Episode 27 and 16 were kinda nice. Few were funny and other should never exist. There's only 1! 1 Reason that I still keep watching the show. If it's confirmed that it won't happen what I'm expecting I'll just "ignore" the series and that's it.**

**International-Wonderland; **

Thank you sooooo much for reading this!I'm glad that you're liking it so much!I really don't know what else to say to express my gratitude, so I'll leave an update for it.

**WoYoYo;**

**eld mcm; **

Lol, yeah. I was having my doubts about the orange colour...but I honestly believe that it was way better than...purple.

**Alpha tiger;**

Very welcome!Even if you're anon at least you DID review and I give a lot of valor to that!Yeah..Tigress was mean but she had to(I made that way) and the flashback was my best catch so far.(the first time they meet, Crane's name and the origin of his hat)All in one XD. The best was about the hat for sure. Many people would think that it has a great story behind it..well...the best things in life are the most simple.

**strange dude; **

Maybe someday... 

**ShoothingStar;Carzynuts;Anonymosrules;Shifufanatic;Holoispartan23;Unrealistic(also 23?XD)and Frenir(and the others);**

I own you all my motivation and happiness that I have for making this story!I really hope that I can keep this way for a long time!Thanks for everything! 

**Charlie B. Barkin; **

Yeah..I know Charles, you're the couple 'expert' of KFP fanfiction archive. You can see any possible sings of a possible pairing on a place nobody would take notice. When it comes to pairings I know that your suggestions will be the most meaningful for me. I really hope that I don't screw it up on the pairings. 

Crane couldn't believe it. She was right there!After so many years being so far away from each other...she was right in front of him. He notice how different she was from the last time the avian saw her. She was taller now, apparently stronger and even more beautiful than ever.

Mei Ling hugged him so hard that Crane though that his members would split away from his body. She was way stronger than he had anticipated.

"Uhg..I..Ling...I...can't...breath!...Urgh.." Crane warned while trying to catch some air. The mountain cat released him quickly.

"Oh!I'm so sorry Jien!I think I got overjoyed..." She said laughing a bit at her own excessive happiness.

"That's ok. I'm fine," The waterfowl said while massaging his chest with his wings." When did you got here?"

"Oh, just few minutes ago. I have to say..it was a quite interesting journey." Mei Ling replied crossing her arms and staring at the bird.

Crane could notice that Mei Ling was evaluating him, especially his psych. That didn't help a bit. He was already getting nervous just by being closer to her again. It was no wonder why, since that time on Wu Dan he would never forget the humiliation that Mantis and Monkey made him pass through. After that day the avian didn't spoke with both for 5 months.

"Sorry if I called you in a hurry..it's..something really important that I need to talk about." The avian explained timidly.

"Really?" Mei Ling's eyes went wide. What could it be?Before she could notice she was giving a hint to herself of what would be the subject. "What is it?"

"Hum..." Crane glanced around and it became obvious that he wanted to speak in a more private place. "Follow me."

Mei Ling followed him to the nearest desert alley. Crane seemed apprehensive, she never saw him so nervous since..

"I need a big favor." He said after getting sure that they were alone. Mei Ling frowned a bit. I wasn't what she was expecting and for some reason making 'another' favor for Crane wasn't in her 'to do' list for the next ten years.

"Oh...a favor," Her tone was a bit cold and severe." What kind of favor?"

The bird had complicated himself even more. He should have said 'help' instead of 'favor'.

"I...it's hard to explain...you need to see for yourself." Crane said with pleading eyes. Mei Ling sighed.

"You didn't get yourself into trouble, did you?"

"Well...not quite."

"Jien..." Warned Mei Ling.

"Ok,ok. Just..help me please!I really don't know what to do anymore." The avian was feeling stressful. Crane knew that he didn't want to go into that road with Shen alone, he needed help and the only person of thrust that would not betray him or kill Shen was her.

"Alright.." She agreed "..so, tell me..which way?"

Crane noticed that her tone of voice had change a lot. From cold to very sweet and playful. The avian stared at her, she was carrying the most affectionate expression that he had seen in ages. The waterfowl was confused. Just few seconds ago she was really happy, then apparently she got angry. Now it was something else. Something he hadn't seen in her before._ 'It's that...?" _

"What are all these bags you're carrying?" Mei Ling asked noticing the bags filled with food and clothes on Crane's wings. The avian seemed lost for a moment since he wasn't paying attention. "Jien?Hello?"

"Huh?" He said returning to the reality." Oh..this bags?Well, they're for a.. friend of mine."

"A friend?Who?" She asked while walking past the avian and, accidentally, touching her large tail on the avian's legs.

The feeling of the soft fur caressing his legs made Crane shiver. It was really hard for him to keep focused while having Mei Ling around like that.

"I-It's..a surprise...why we don't go check on him now?I have nothing better to do anyway."

"It's almost night. Don't you have to return to the Five?" Mei Ling asked while admiring the city. She never saw such impressive place since she pass by in the Imperial City. Crane sighed.

"Hum...yes, I do. You want to come along?"

Mei Ling turned around and grabbed some bags that Crane was carrying.

"That would be great. Lead the way."

Both avian and feline returned to the establishment. In their way Crane and Mei Ling shared many adventures they had along the years. For the avian's big surprise Mei Ling had mastered a very hard and rare style.

"The Five Families?" Crane seemed shocked.'"But..but..that's.."

"Impossible?" Mei Ling asked laughing at her friend's expression." I took me a while, but hey!If you're an air kinect I can do some nice things too."

The Five Families main components of the style are the legendary five families' kung fu styles: Fut Gar, Li Gar, Mok Gar, Hung Gar and Choy Gar, each of them complete styles with different approaches to Kung Fu, all descended from the temples of Shaolin. Their lines came together and created a style that combined the might of all the Five families to create a system with better transition and strength.

"And I also know the Five Animals." Mei Ling added only to make Crane's beak to drop open ridiculously.

The Five Animals style was complemented with the Five Legendary Shaolin Animals, each with its own approach to fighting techniques, and each with its own advanced form within the style.

"Which ones you know?" Asked Crane after few minutes of silence. He couldn't believe on what he just heard. Mei Ling was just enjoying herself with the situation.

"Let's see...the leopard, the dragon and the crane." She listed with her fingers. "And of the Five Families...the Hung Gar and Fut Ga."

"Really?That's..that's awesome!" Crane said a bit off himself. Mei Ling stared at him with an odd look. "I mean...that's impressive. Heheh, I'm passing too much time with Po.."

"Who's Po?" Asked Mei Ling.

"My best friend." Said Crane. Mei Ling stared at him again. "I mean...my best _male_ friend." He corrected himself.

"Oh, he makes part of the Five?" Mei Ling's curiosity always amazed Crane, but thanks to that it was one of the reasons of why he learned calligraphy.

**Flashback(19 years ago)**

_Crane and Mei Ling had returned from their last mission at the province of Heng Li. Having take care of the several major conflicts in the area they could return to the academy for a deserved rest._

_"My back is killing me." Complained Crane while leaving his bag over his bed. Him and Mei Ling were sharing the same room. _

_"That's because I told you to not buy so many supplies for the home journey." Chuckled the Mountain Cat laying in her bed." If you want I can alleviate the pain." _

_"It's not another of your weird medicines, is it?" Asked the avian sitting next to her._

_"What?No!And you know that I was just testing that thing, I didn't know that would make you lose so many feathers at once. I still feel really sorry for that." _

_"Right, I bet you found funny to see how my skin was.." Crane replied darkly. Mei Ling just rolled her eyes._

_"It wasn't that bad. I was surprised, true. And you should be glad that it didn't make your pants fall too, otherwise..."_

_"Ok,Ok!I got it." Crane said having enough of her jokes." I just passed weeks without leaving my room. And that's not bad at all, letting aside some 'jokes' coming from the others." _

_"Ha, I don't know why you were complaining so much." Mei Ling said on an undignified tone. "Everyone started asking me how it was like to have a naked chicken in my room. And if we..." She stopped all of sudden. Crane glanced at her._

_"If we..?What?" He asked hesitantly. Mei Ling didn't replied." Well, I believe that whatever it is doesn't matter now. So if it's not a medicine what is it?" _

_"Oh, just a relaxing massage. What do you think?" _Crane's mortified silence was taken as a yes by Mei Ling. "Nice, just lay down." __

__Slowly the bird made what she said. He wasn't feeling comfortable at all. While doing this he saw some of her personal stuff next to the door.__

__"What's that?" He asked pointing with his beak to her objects, when he felt her hands over his back he sensed that she had took off her gloves.__

__"That?Just my calligraphy equipment." She said with clear amusement."Why?"__

__"You learned calligraphy? How?" Crane asked.  
><em>_

__"The headmaster instructed me of how to do so. It's a very interesting art. You should try sometime." __

__"Maybe..." Crane said feeling very relaxed already." I was thinking..tomorrow we have a free ..."__

__"Yes?"__

__"..." __

__"Huang?" __

__Crane fall sleep. Mei Ling sighed. Apparently the avian had relaxed too much. __

__"Why every time I touch him, he just black out?" Asked Mei Ling to herself.__

**End of Flashback **

"Jien?Are you still there?" Mei Ling asked with a worried expression.

"Huh?...sorry, I was reminding somethings.." He said apologizing.

"You're always with something in your mind aren't you?" She said on a cheerful tone. Crane nodded recognizing the truth behind her words.

"I was remembering how I...decided to learn calligraphy."

"I remember that too. It's funny how that started...by the way, did you ever told anyone about that episode with the medicine?"

"What?No, I wouldn't do that!I had enough embarrassing moments in my life, I don't need more," The waterfowl got annoyed with the question. He didn't want to remember about that episode. It was just like remembering about what happened at Wu Dan. " Do you remember about Wu Dan?"

Mei Ling's face hardened at his question.

"Ok, I got your point, sorry for asking," The feline replied. Crane was enjoying his little revenge while they had finally reached the establishment. "It's here?"

"Yes, let's get inside."

Crane leaded Mei Ling to the dining room where the others would be at this hour. His expectations were confirmed when he saw his friends at the table.

"Hey, Crane!My man!" Greeted Mantis when he saw the avian. "Where were yo..." Mantis then saw Mei Ling "..you gotta be kidding me!Mei Ling?When did you got here?"

Everyone at the table was surprised with the presence of the mountain cat. Most of them seemed glad to see her again, at least the men did. It didn't took long for Po to jump in front of the mountain cat and start yelling in awe.

"OH MY I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!MASTER MEI LING!THIS IS ONE OF MY BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE!I'm so honored to finally meet you in person!I'm your big fan!I know a lot about you, thanks to Crane! If it wasn't for your awesomeness and goodness acts there would be no Master Crane!Pleeaasseee give me an autograph!Please,please, please!"

Mei Ling never saw something like that in her life. After recovering from the first shock she finally found words to speak.

"And...you..are?"

"Oh!Sooo sorry for my rudeness!I'm Master Po but you can call me just Po if you want!" The panda replied. Mei Ling turned around to face Crane and gave to the avian a 'this is the Po?" look. Crane nodded sadly. Something had disturbed the avian but the mountain cat didn't notice.

"Well then..Po. Nice to meet you. And I'm happy to see you all again." She said to the rest of the Five. Mantis and Monkey were having their 'awe' moment too. Tigress just greeted Mei Ling by nodding with her head. Viper eyed the cat with suspicious.

"Why you came here?" Asked Viper formally.

"Crane invited me, he said he needed h.." But before she could end the sentence Crane kicked Mei Ling in the leg to make her shut up the last word."...having a moment to talk with me since he wasn't so far from Yunnán."

"That's nice..to bad we'll be leaving shortly." The female snake said smoothly.

Crane was the only one who notice something strange in Viper's behavior. It was just like she was trying to make a point out of the conversation.

"Hum..yes, I guess so." Mei Ling was hesitant now." Anyway it's good to see you all again. Crane told me about the Dragon Warrior sometime ago...where is he?"

Everyone went silent after that, even Po. Crane waved his wing in Po's direction. Mei Ling was surprised again.

"Really?It's you Po?" She asked. Po nodded proudly. "That's great!I'm impressed, I can't wait to have a sparring with you to see your techniques."

Crane smiled at his friends expressions. Apparently they didn't believe in Crane when he said that Mei Ling was far different from any other person the avian had met in his life.

"I'm a bit tired now...there's any room available here?" The cat asked.

"You can stay in my room." Crane suggested. Mantis and Monkey tried to hide their laughs while Viper thrown a hatred look at the mountain cat. Tigress decided to ignore the situation(as usual) and just ate her dinner.

Crane and Mei Ling went upstairs to the avian's room. When they got there the mountain cat felt odd to see only one bed inside.

"Hum...Jien?" She said while looking at the lonely bed.

"Don't worry, remember when I slept in the kitchen back at the academy?" Crane said to clear her doubts.

"You sleep only that way?" She asked amazed. "But, isn't uncomfortable?"

"Not for me, I got used to this in the last 17 years."

"Don't you miss it?"

Crane didn't respond. Hell he did...he did a lot. While Mei Ling was falling asleep Crane remembered what had disturbed him so much. Something Po had said at the dining room.

_'..If it wasn't for your awesomeness and goodness acts there would be no Master Crane!_...'

No Master Crane. Wasn't for her.

_"I own her my life..." _

**A/N: That's it!For this chapter of course. I'm a bit sad now because my favorite soccer team lost in the semi-finals.(São Paulo FC) Anyway, I'm happy to deliver this new chapter although I can feel the presence of a writer's block ghost. I need to call the ghost adventures team!Because Ghost Hunters sucks...**

**By the way...,...,...,...I forgot. -_-"**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks everyone for understanding the delay...but I'm still feeling a little disturbed by earlier events so I won't be able to reply to your last reviews. **

"Mei Ling...Mei?Wake up." Whispered Crane.

"Uhn?Wha...Jien?What's wrong?" Replied the feline opening her eyes slowly trying to see her avian friend.

"Keep your voice down, I don't want to awake the others."

Mei Ling distinguished in the dark the waterfowl's figure walking to the door and opening it carefully. He checked the hall to see if it was empty.

"What are you doing?" The Mountain Cat asked. It was still night and she could see that he was carrying the bags she saw earlier.

"I'm going to check on my friend, want to come with me?"

Mei Ling felt the apprehensiveness taking over her. Why the avian wanted to leave without getting notice?

"Ok, lead the way." Mei Ling answered while taking her staff just in case. Crane was hesitant.

"You...won't need that." He said pointing with his talons to the large wooden weapon. Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?I'll go with it anyway."

Crane sighed but didn't make more arguments about it. Both feline and avian left the room carefully to avoid making any loud noises. They almost got caught by Po who was sneaking in the kitchen looking for snacks. Mei Ling was amused with the panda.

"He's so funny, and charming too." She said while they left the establishment.

Crane grunted. For some reason her compliments bothered him. Nevertheless Crane dedicated his attention to reaching Shen's hideout safely. The co...two left the city without much difficult, the guards were easy to pass by without being spotted. The voyage until there was very quiet. Mei Ling was trying to memorize the path they were using for when she needed to go to the same spot if Crane wasn't able to do so.

When they reached the old house the feline got a lot more concerned. It didn't seem a place someone would live.

They got inside and went to one of the rooms. When Crane opened the door she saw a strange figure laying in a very old bed. Whatever it was the thing was reading something with the light coming from a tiny candle.

"You're awake?" Crane asked in surprise. The figure made a strange noise and just ignored him. "There's someone I would like you to know."

"Oh..you brought a friend then. I hope he isn't carrying any lethal metal.." The figure said mischievously.

"Hum..no. And it's not a he." Crane responded.

The avian opened the door a bit more to allow Mei Ling to enter. Being inside the room now she could see that the figure was also an avian.

"Hi, I'm..Mei Ling, nice to meet you..hum.." She said and waited for the stranger to tell his name. Shen was so distracted contemplating the feline that he didn't pay attention to her words. The odd silence was enough to make Crane intervene.

"His name is Shen."

"It's LORD Shen to you, bird!" The peacock snapped furiously. The mountain cat was amazed with the level of aggressiveness that the peacock had developed just so suddenly.

But apparently Crane was used with such because he just got his bags near the bed and dispose the food over the table next to it.

"I got you some food. I'm not sure if you're going to like of everything but...better than nothing, right?" Crane said smiling to the peacock. The death glare that Crane received back was enough to make his smile turn yellow. "Hum...I got you some clothes too..."

At this the peacock got very interested and didn't react angrily.

"What do you have there?" Shen asked while trying to take a look in one of the bags. Crane took off the robe first. Bad idea.

Shen stared at the orange rob as if it was some kind of ghost. Then his beak slowly opened and his throat started making strange noises. Crane eavesdropped at that reaction.

"I...guess...you...liked?" The bird stupidly asked.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?THAT'S THE MOST UGLIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!WHAT HAPENNED WITH IT?YOU PUKED ON THIS BY ACCIDENT OR WHAT?

"No..I just...didn't.."

"WHY YOU DON'T TRASH THAT THING IN A PILE OF-

Before Shen could end his sentence with the "proper" words he received a good punch in the side of his head delivered by the mountain cat. The peacock did not expect what just happened, and feeling a burning pain over his cheek he watched in bewilderment the feline slowly return to Crane's side. The avian was also impressed.

"Well...that was...reasonable." Said Crane while placing the rest of the clothes over Shen's bed. The peacock didn't say any other word after he got punched especially because he didn't want to. He wasn't afraid of the cat but probably that feline was quite strong...for a woman. Fighting wasn't an option at the moment.

"I really appreciate Mei Ling," Thanked the waterfowl. Shen glared daggers at him." But it's not right to you attack him in such a weak state."

The mountain cat chuckled and showed him a sarcastic expression.

"I'm sorry for that, even so you 'friend' has enough strength to be rude. He should be thanking you a lot for helping him so much to recover. Now I'm curious...how he ended like that?"

Crane gulped. He knew that this would happen eventually but he was hoping it would take much more time.

"Err...you never heard about Lord Shen did you?" Asked the crane.

"No, why?I should have?" Responded Mei Ling intrigued.

"Pretty much you silly cat," Said Shen furiously." Wasn't for him and his stupid friends and that hellish panda ALL China would know who I am."

Mei Ling frowned at the peacock.

"He has serious problems of behavior, don't you think?I guess his parents didn't have much time to look over him." She said to Crane.

Crane tried frenetically to avoid the feline to refer about Shen's parents. While Shen's eyes were glowing red with fury and agony the waterfowl decided to open the game already or this would end pretty bad.

"Mei..hum..you better take a seat, I have a lot to tell you."

_3 hours later... _

"Ahhhhhh!Wait!Please!Don't kill me! You don't understand, I didn't have a choice!" Pleaded Crane while dodging Mei Ling's several swing attacks.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND CRANE?What the hell were you thinking?Do you have any idea of the mess you got yourself into?" Yelled the mountain cat while trying to land a hit on Crane.

Shen was a bit annoyed with all the noise but while seeing the other two arguing like that he couldn't help himself but chuckle at the scene. Too bad for him that Crane heard that, and too bad for Crane that the noise was enough to distract him and allow Mei Ling's staff to hit him hard in the head.

The crane flew until the next wall and fell to the ground unconscious. Mei Ling wasn't expecting to hit Crane and even less to be that hard. She went quickly to check if he was ok. Shen took the opportunity to take his daggers out of his hidden blanket.

Crane may have dodged them in the previous day but he forgot that they could be recovered. While Shen though that he was defenseless having no weapons with him he saw the daggers stabbed in the opposite wall. Apparently Crane's hurry and nervousness on that day was enough to make him careless with such simple details.

Shen had a good aim and at this distance it would be an easy kill. The daggers were ready and he waited...and waited...and waited. His clear hesitation was starting to feel very disturbing, why didn't he attack already? It was so simple and easy, why would he be bothered about killing the feline even if it was pointless?

Then it became clear that he would gain nothing by killing the cat and would lose the only hope he has to recover and retake his plans. The peacock had thought on how he would regain his power. He had no army, no weapons, no loyal servants or anything, no money to hire.

Maybe he should pay more attention on his kung fu training when he was younger. He didn't like the martial art but it was quite useful sometimes, when he built the cannon he though he wouldn't need it anymore. But even large cannons weren't enough to defeat kung fu. So apparently the only way to defeat a kung fu master was mastering kung fu or...mastering another martial art.

Shen had allowed himself to get lost in thoughts and Mei Ling had succeeded in awakening Crane. They both saw Shen with his daggers on his wings and staring into obliviousness. Crane was pale. He realized that he must had forgot about the daggers that Shen used to attack him yesterday and the peacock had them recovered after Crane left. Now he was also curious, why the peacock didn't kill them both?

"Shen..are you alright?" Asked Crane getting closer and being extremely caution. The peacock blinked.

"Huh?What?" Then he saw the feline and the avian right next to him. He looked at his daggers that were still waiting for their targets. Shen slowly placed then over the desk. He felt a strange feeling of emptiness.

Mei Ling had no idea of what was going in the peacock's mind. She heard about his past and all but still she didn't really know what to think about it, but there's was just one thing that was clear to her about the peacock: he was crazy.

Shen faced them both, his expression was unreadable.

"I..I'm not sure. Of what to do anymore. I was so determinate to be respected, to someone recognize that I was worth of something.."

"Why?If you had played right you could be the emperor of Gongmen City today." Mei Ling said in a 'matter of fact' tone.

Shen whispered 'I didn't ask you anything' to Mei Ling that had a very good audition and heard it. She was about to punch the peacock again but Crane caught her in the act.

"Shen...unlike most people I am determinate to give you a second chance. You just have to promise that you'll try to change and will not try to take over your old plans again."

The peacock was doubtful of the avian's words. He seemed serious and have stated that firmly, even so the crane was no one of enough authority to decide over such things. Mei Ling was skeptical about Shen changing someway. The only reason that she allow herself to be in the same room with the peacock was Crane, other than that she would be the far as she could get from that person.

"If I accept that...what's going to be of me?" Shen wasn't taking into consideration changing his way for sure. He just wanted to see if he could take some advantage of the situation.

"There are two , we take you to the Lee Dai Academy until you recover and Mei Ling will be watching over you..."

"Hell no!You forget about that!" Protested Mei Ling.

"..or we take you to the Jade Palace were I hope to convince someone for you to stay there, and this person would be Master Shifu, and for you to be instructed under our guard." Finished the avian.

Shen could not believe in anything he had just heard. The two options were very unlikely but the second was awfully disturbing.

"Are you sure?What if they kill me?" The peacock seemed a bit frightened.

"They won't..they will have to kill me first if they want to."

Both Shen and Mei Ling stared at the waterfowl. Their expressions were a mix of fear and surprise.

"Nobody it's going to kill you without passing through me first." Said Mei Ling with proud and confidence. Crane smiled in agreement.

"I see...so you promise to try Shen?It's not that hard, nobody it's going to thrust you at the beginning. It's going to be tough, are you ready?"

The peacock was thinking. The crane was very determinate, Shen never saw someone who would care for him like that since the Soothsayer.

"I...I promise...that..yes, I'll try. At least." Replied the peacock feeling the words coming out painfully.

"Good, get ready then. I'm bringing you to Gongmen City tomorrow." Advised Crane. Shen took few seconds to become hysterical.

"WHAT?TOMORROW?Now wait!Why?I though it would take few more weeks!" Complained Shen with desperation.

"Yeah, about that...sadly I'll be leaving tomorrow with the others so..or you go to the palace or you'll go with Mei Ling to Yunnán."

"Crane.."

"I'm not arguing anymore about that Mei Ling," Crane said to shut her complain." Now if Shen agreed in coming to the Valley of Peace then you two can get pack you things, we'll be leaving tomorrow in the afternoon."

The mountain cat couldn't help but sense something strange about the 'you two' in the speech of the avian.

"Wait...me too?" She asked. Crane nodded."Why?"

"You, more than anyone, deserve that opportunity. I'll talk with Master Shifu to accept my request this time, if he doesn't then..."

"Then what?" Asked Mei Ling intrigued. Crane stared for few moments at the floor.

"Then we'll see..."

"Crane, do you know that you'll just ask to Shifu to let me and Lord Shen to stay at the Jade Palace at the same time?Do you really think this is going to happen?"

The avian smiled sadly at her words. Then he gazed at Shen.

"We'll never know if we don't try..."

An odd silence filled the old room. Crane knew that he was about to put everything at risk in one single try, Mei Ling, Shen and himself.

Shen was aware of the risk as well. Even so he felt weird about it, something he felt before many years ago when he was banished. That time he expected that his parents would forgive him for what he did. In the end they never did but until today he carried that hope with him. Hope to be forgiven. The panda had forgive him but Shen hardly believe in that and even if he did just the panda's forgiveness wasn't enough to make him really feel that way. He wanted to hear that from someone who was really meaningful for him. Normally it would be the Soothsayer but she was so kind that it wouldn't be that hard.

"But..before I go I just want one thing." Said the peacock formally. Crane shrugged.

"Sure, what is it?"

The peacock caught the orange robe laying over his bed and threw it at the floor.

"I want a decent robe."

Crane rolled his eyes annoyed.

"Why a good rob is so important to you?"

"That doesn't concern you. Just find a decent one and I'll go with you." Replied the peacock while checking over his injuries."Do you really think I can walk already?"

"Well, if you can't them Mei Ling will carry you."

The mountain cat glared venomously at Crane but didn't complained. Otherwise Shen did.

"I'm not gonna be carried like a child while in the city!Are you trying to make a fool out of me?"

Crane sighed.

"Alright...then instead we can put you over a piece of wood and carry you laying over it."

Shen dislike this even more and with great reluctance he had to agreed with being carried by the feline.

Crane made some new bandages for Shen and tried some new medicines.

"Honestly Mantis acupuncture would be a lot more helpful that medication. If you two become friends he can help you with it."

Crane's suggestion that the peacock should become a friend of a bug just made Shen frown and feel worse. If it was true that acupuncture would be so helpful then he maybe could get friends with the bug. Even being so he would just become friends to have acupuncture sessions and nothing else.

Mei Ling helped Crane with the bandages, even knowing what Shen was she couldn't help herself but feel pity of the peacock when she saw his real state. So many terrible injures sure weren't nice to deal with.

The sun would be rising soon and Mei Ling and Crane needed to return to Gongmen. They said their goodbyes to Shen and the peacock replied back, not very friendly but he did at least.

While traveling back Mei Ling decided to open a conversation with her avian friend.

"Ok, so Shen is a disturbed guy, isn't he?"

"I believe so...but nothing says that he can't become normal again." Crane responded while looking at the sky. It was a beautiful night with high moon and no clouds so it was possible to see a good number of stars.

"You really care about him that much?"

"Kind of.."

"So, tell me. If things don't run the way you hope what's going to be of us?"

Crane stopped death in his tracks, he looked over Mei Ling confused.

"Us?What do you mean?" The mountain cat rolled her eyes.

"I'm talking about you, me and Shen."

'Oh, well...we'll have to wait and see where this goes. Until there we need to have hope."

"They always said that hope dies for last, but when you die your hopes die with you."

**A/N: I know, I know...wasn't this going to be bigger?Well...it's a bit more because there weren't any replies for reviews, anyway the next chapters will be bigger than the last ones so no need to worry.I just need to...put my head in the right place now.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:Thank you guys for the waiting the previous chapter more than usual.I think my head is in the right place now(of course that over my neck!)Anyway...the replies.**

**WoYoYo; **

Hum..well, thanks. Sorry if you don't have many reviews but even getting some is always good, even if they're not very helpful in what they wrote... I really don't mind how much reviews I get, it's always good to know that someone is actually reading the story.

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

Thanks for the strong support, I was needing it.

**Anonymosrules-Holoispartan23-ShootingStar-DirectSourceAnimationsPlot;**

Thanks a lot guys!Yeah, the ending was something I always wanted to wrote or say. Not a big deal but you can learn a lesson from it.

**Frenir;**

Not that long I guess but it''s good to see you again. Yeah, that was...not very tempting to write about. 

The last day of the masters of the Jade Palace in the City of Gongmen had finally reached. Early in the morning everyone was at the table having their breakfast especially made by Po. It was curious to see the variety of foods that the panda met during his research at the town. Now Po was making each plate for each one of them instead of noodles for everyone. Of course the plates were made for their own tastes.

It was impressive for Crane that Po actually _knew_ Mei Ling's favorite kind of food. When he saw her plate being served by the panda the avian couldn't help but frown at the sight. Mei Ling seemed really happy with the panda's concern about her tastes and she gave a small kiss on the check of the panda thanking him for the gentle action.

For some strange reason that made Crane extremely annoyed. He did not say a word but concentrate on his plate. Odd enough he felt like Tigress when acting like that. Suddenly he turned his head slowly in the direction of the female tiger that was sitting next to him.

Maybe it was because he though about her or something else but he could have sworn that he heard a very silent growl coming from the feline. He saw that her eyes were fixed in Mei Ling. What Crane saw buried deep in those eyes was nothing to be ignored. Hate.

_'Gez, I hope she doesn't have nothing against Mei Ling...I wouldnt be happy to intervene in a fight.' _Crane though while eating his special plate. Apparently Po made Crane's wish granted and now the avian was having some nice sea food with a very well prepared fish for breakfast. Maybe it was a bit too much for the morning but everyone liked of it anyway.

While Crane stared at his friends he remembered of Shen being alone and injured in an old house in the middle of nothing. If things go as he planned...maybe Shen would make part of this nice moments very soon. It was sad to think about the peacock being alone like that. Crane just wanted to be more present, and he still had to make sure that Shen could change his ways. If he didn't...then he had no idea of what would happen then.

If Mei Ling was there for him them Crane would be there for Shen. But this time the peacock would also have Mei Ling and hopefully someone else. It was about time to get Shen out of that isolated place.

"So, what you guys will be doing for today?" Asked Mantis. The insect was in a very good mood today, probably he must had been in a lot of fun yesterday with Monkey and there would be more today.

"Nothing really," Replied Viper gently balancing her head to the sides."Maybe I take a walk or something to get distracted." At this the snake eyed Crane that didn't take notice of it.

Mantis shrugged." And the rest of you?Any good plans?"

"Well, I think I'll be passing in the markets today, I wanna see what kind of crazy stuff they have. I can find some things to complete my collection." Said Po enthusiastically.

"Collection?Of what?" Asked Monkey intrigued. The simian would be along with Mantis again today. Everyone was keeping an eye the two, they heard rumors that they had found some nice devices for pranksters and they were trying to test it on someone.

"Nah, it's no big deal, really. It's like...a hobbies of mine," Po response was vague and rather strange. Nobody gave further attention to it anyway."And you Crane?Ling? Anything interesting that you two will be doing today."

At this Mantis and Monkey couldn't hold their laughs. Everyone stared at the two.

"What?" Asked Po surprised by the sudden reaction. Mantis was the first to calm down a bit.

"Well, I don't know about you I think that they _will_ be doing something _really_ interesting today. If not they made it at ni-" The insect was cut of by Viper's tail that shoved him hard in the nearest wall."Ow!Hey!I got it, I got it. Don't have to be so harsh you know." Complained Mantis while returning to the table. Viper rolled her eyes showing her anointment with the insect.

Po was still a bit confused. Monkey kept silent to avoid getting under Viper's rage. Mei Ling and Crane were still showing some discomfort with the situation.

"Hum..well, Po. I wonder if we can't hang out today?It would be nice you know...just to-

Crane was cut of quickly by the panda outburst of happiness. While the bird waited for Po to end with his "awesome", "amazing", freaking cool!" moment he eyed the mountain cat. It was clear that she knew why Crane asked to walk around with Po. They had elaborated an idea last night. If there was someone they need to show and convince first to accept Lord Shen it was the panda. But the mountain cat was so distracted with the panda that she didn't bother to look at Crane and give any sign. The waterfowl was getting uneasy with the so much attention the panda was having from Mei Ling.

_'Im jealous of him?' _Though Crane while looking at the panda still dancing in the kitchen. _'Nah, maybe I'm just getting worried too much...' _

"That's great!Let's go Crane!We have a lot to look out for!" The panda grabbed the avian by his wings and dragged him over the table in the most careless way possible.

"Po!Wait!Ouch!Po!Ugh!Argh!" The avian tried to stop the panda from getting him smashed over the large table. Everything over it flew as the bird crashed into them. Food and plates were thrown everywhere and the rest of the Five and Mei Ling dodge them just in time. After the two had left everyone started to put things in the right place and clean the mess.

Mei Ling had laughed at the scene she saw. The panda was really different. She helped to clean the mess the fastest she could and then she would be after the two. But before she could left she was stop by Tigress. The mountain cat looked over the leader of the Furious Five in amazement.

"We need to talk." Tigress firmly said.

"About what?"Asked Mei Ling while everyone else in the kitchen left for their free time at the town.

"About where you and Crane were last night."

**Meanwhile... **

Po and Crane were walking in the main alley searching for whatever else Po would be looking for. Crane had a lot going in his mind already and anything that the panda was focused now was far from being a concern for the bird.

"Man, look all this stuff!This place makes Valley of Peace look like an old farm." Po said impressed by the majority of commercials in the area.

"Sure it does. Of course that you haven't seen the Imperial City yet. After being there you would not see anything else that can impress you for a long time." Crane said while eyeing a shop of clothes that was near them._'I forgot about the robe...' _

"Have you been there before?" Asked Po while taking a good look in some interesting items.

"Not really, but Mei Ling did. She told me in her letters about it. I have to admit that I really want to get to know that place someday."

"She's really sweet Crane. You're lucky to have her."

Crane blinked for a moment. He tried to understand the panda's words.

"What do you mean?" Po turned around to face the bird. He was smiling sheepishly at the crane.

"Well...you like her don't you?" He asked friendly.

"Yes, we are best friends." Replied Crane. Po sighed.

"I mean..not as friends..huh, how do I say this?Hum...do you like her?You know... more than just friends?"

Crane took a step back avoiding eye contact with the panda.

"I don't know what you're saying...we should find what you're looking for already."

"Heh, fine." Said Po chuckling. Crane sighed. Since when Po would understand about relationships?But the avian already have a lot to think about at the moment.

"Po, we..are best friends, right?" Asked Crane looking down to the ground.

"Yeah!That's for sure man!" Replied Po smiling while taking a look at the shops around them.

"If...I told you something that I did wrong..you..would you be mad at me?"

The smile of the panda died as he turned around facing the crane next to him with a worried expression.

"What you're talking about?How would I be mad at you?You're such a nice person Crane. Actually you were the first to talk with me with sympathy when I first arrived at the Palace. Can't forget those things ya know..."

Crane smiled nervously at him.

"I guess so...but I still need to tell you something. I just need you to promise that you won't hate me for this. I really like to be your friend Po, and I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"What are you saying Crane?Did you kill someone or something like that?" Asked Po laughing at the possibility of such. But when Crane didn't reply his laughter disappeared."Hum...you didn't...right?" Crane rolled his eyes.

"No, I didn't. But it feels that way...come with me." The avian replied walking out of the alley. Po followed him until the outskirts of the city.

"Sooo...what's the surprise?" Po was wondering all along of what could be so important after all. Crane hold his breath for a moment before replying.

"It's.." He had barely started when they heard someone calling them. They both turned around to see Tigress and Mei Ling coming in their direction. Tigress seemed infuriated and Mei Ling was keeping a distance from her with clear apprehensiveness.

Whey they got close Tigress grabbed Crane by his large neck and started to choke him. Crane wasn't expecting that and he tried to get free from the feline's squishing hands. He was getting no air to breath and his senses were losing out slowly.

"Tigress!Stop!You're killing him!" Screamed Mei Ling at the female tiger. After few seconds she released Crane from the grip. The avian fell hard on the floor trying to recover his breath. Tigress approached of the avian's face slowly with the most menacing expression that Crane ever saw before.

"You better have a good explanation for it." She said. Crane heard the growl she made and he gulped. Mei Ling helped Crane to get up while she received a glare from the bird that probably was meaning_ 'Did you told her?'_ and the mountain cat returned with a _'Im sorry, I didn't have a choice' _look.

"Sooo...that was the surprise?I'm impressed..." Po said. The panda seemed scared and nervous. Crane made sure to have some distance from the female tiger before saying anything else.

"I'll explain everything...but not here. Follow me. You too Ling." The avian said looking straight at them.

"I would anyway, someone needs to watch your back now." Mei Ling replied while keeping an eye on Tigress.

Now they were in a hell of trouble. Somehow Tigress suspected of something and she went over Mei Ling that wasn't able to give any good excuse at the moment. Crane regret immediately of not bringing her along with him. Now they would have to make sure that Tigress wouldn't make anything foolish. It was easy to believe that she could after she tried to asphyxiate him just few moments ago.

The group moved through the forest, it was a sunny day but that wasn't enough to make the area properly illuminated. Po was complaining of the time it would take the trip but Tigress quickly made him shut up. Crane discretely oriented Mei Ling to engage Tigress if she tried anything to hurt the peacock. Mei Ling was aware of it even without the warning. True to be told, she didn't want to do that.

The group reached the old house, Crane's nerves were at the edge now. There was no way to tell of what could happen after they get inside. He moved to the front door. Unexpectedly the door was lock.

"What?" Crane tried to open it but no avail. If the door was locked that would mean that someone, and he had an idea of who, was able to do it so. He knocked few times. When they heard footsteps Crane prepared himself for the major impact of the incoming situation. He heard the door being unlocked and then opening slowly revealing no other than...

"You?"

"Hello there, nice to see you again Master Crane. I see you brought your friends with you this time."

It was the Soothsayer.

**A/N: Yep, cliffhangers?No, I'm not a fan of it. But I made a good use of them sometimes. By the way..this chapter seemed large but the count it's the same. :/ Maybe I'm getting good at some things.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:Well, I'm happy to see you all again!It's good to be back on stage! It's hard to wait a week for updates, isn't?You know...I'm REALLY missing BIRDSofaFEATHER!**

**WoYoYo;**

No review for the last one?I wonder what happened.

**WiseScholar;**

Do you know what happen with Crimson-Curved?It's VERY weird!Charlie is the one who keeps in contact with him all the time but he just vanish with no reason. It's about 3 to 5 months already...sad.

**strange dude;**

It's always good to see you around!Here's the chapter!

**ShootingStar;**

Finally someone took notice of the day of update, I'm glad you liked!

**KungFusion;**

Glad to see a new face around here!Welcome and thanks for reviewing!

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

It's ok Charlie, any news about Crimson?"

**All the others;**

Yeah!Nobody(not even myself) expected to see her again!But surprises are good sometimes.

Crane stood in shock while seeing the figure of the old woman at the door of the farm-house. Po was the only one who gave sings of recognizing her instantly. The Soothsayer then approached the waterfowl and hugged the crane in the most caring way possible.

"You saved my boy," She said emotionally "I'll never be able to really express my gratitude."

Crane felt very embarrassed with the gesture. The others were right behind him expressing their surprise. Tigress was the first to speak.

"Excuse me but...how can you be thankful to Crane for saving that abomination?" The feline's words were harsh and cold. The Soothsayer smiled gently at her.

"Oh, my young women. It's something you wouldn't understand. I'm not the right person to tell you why even if I know the reason behind it. Now let's get inside, we don't need to let Shen waiting for us." The soothsayer gently invited them inside the house. Crane lead the way along with the old goat. Mei Ling came after being followed by Po and Tigress.

"So..he's alive?" Asked Po to no one in particular.

"Yes..he is Po." Crane responded. The panda stared at his avian friend with a look of disappointment.

"Really?And you knew it and didn't told me?" Crane stared back at the panda with guilty forming over the bird.

"I..was about to tell you before we were interrupted. I'm so sorry Po. I..do know about...what he did."

Po nodded sadly at the avian. At least the bird was aware of the pain that the peacock caused to the panda. Even so Po forgave Shen for his crimes, hoping that it would be enough to make Shen change his mind about the way he was behaving. In the end it didn't work well at all. Maybe because he made a stupid joke about scars instead of acting more seriously about the situation.

They reached the room where the peacock was being kept in treatment. When the group got inside they saw Shen already for them sitting over his bed. Apparently the Soothsayer applied her acupuncture treatment in the peacock. The only thing in Shen that was visibly moving were his eyes. It was clear that he wasn't enjoying none a bit of it.

"Ahhh!It's Shen!" Screamed Po pointing at the albino bird. Everybody gave the panda an odd look.

"What?Who were you expecting?" Crane asked while sitting next to Shen.

"Hum..I..., ya know..." The panda seemed embarrassed. Tigress smirked.

"You wasn't thinking that they were talking for real, were you?" Asked the female tiger with some annoyance clear in her voice.

"Well I...no," Po admitted while scratching the back of his head nervously."So...what is going to happen now?"

Crane and Mei Ling eyed each other quickly before saying anything. The waterfowl decided to take the initiative.

"Po, we'll be leaving tomorrow and we're planning to..well it doesn't matter since the Soothsayer is here she ca-

"I'm sorry my dear, but I can't take care of him. It's not up to me to look over his future anymore." The Soothsayer interrupted while watching Shen immobilized with a saddened look. Crane knew how that was disappointing and he wonder of why she didn't want to take care of the Lord anymore.

Shen didn't express any surprise reaction with the declaration of the goat. Maybe she had already told him of such and explained why.

"So...what we'll do with him?" Po asked looking at everyone. Nobody replied. Suddenly the panda jumped in excitement."Oh,oh!I got an idea!Why we don't take him with us?"

"WHAT?" Tigress was the first to express disbelief at the panda's words. "Are you out of your mind?Do you really think that Shifu would allow that?He's a criminal!"

"Yeah but...he is so cool!You saw when he-

"Cool?COOL?" Are you insane?Panda, seriously, you just give me the head shakes sometimes."

"Please Tigress!It's not big deal, besides what's the risk?Look at him!He looks worse than some sort of..something."

Mei Ling couldn't help but laugh at the panda's remark. Crane frowned a bit. Tigress tried to ignore the panda but then she saw him making puppy eyes at her.

_"Oh no, not that, stop you idiot!I will not fall for that again." _

**1 minute and 12 seconds later... **

"Argh!Fine!But if something happens it will be your fault!Yours too!" She said pointing at Crane. The avian rolled his eyes. Mei Ling was about to say something but Crane made a sign to her to keep silent.

"Alright, let's get going then...hum, is that going to take too long?" Crane asked to the Soothsayer referring to Shen's acupuncture session.

"Don't worry my dear, just few more minutes." She replied kindly.

"So who is going to tell Master Shifu about this?" Asked the mountain cat. Tigress was quick in replying to her question.

"Crane. or Po." She said sternly.

"Why me?" Asked the panda surprised with the answer.

"You want to take that with us?" Asked the feline. Crane felt it was way too much to reefer about Shen as 'that'. Po nodded. "Then you need to talk with Shifu first." She said as a matter of fact.

The group waited for more 20 minutes before being able to move the peacock.

"He's healing faster than I would expect. Thanks to your treatment too Master Crane." The Soothsayer informed." His legs are way better than before so I guess he can walk for few moments. I'm not sure about his feathers. It can take few more weeks before having them normal as before. His superficial wounds are healed already, try to not push him hard for 2 months at least. I'm aware of Shifu's training methods."

"Understood." Crane said while everyone else was gathering outside the house. "Anything else?"

"Yes, good luck and...take good care of my child." Her voice was trembling a bit. She still had a lot of hope for Shen's future and maybe this time things could work for a change.

Crane smiled softly understanding how important Shen was to her. Like a son she never had.

"I will. I promise."

"Can we go on already?" Asked an annoyed voice. Crane stared at Shen that was showing his disgust with the moment.

"Er...I'm glad you didn't say anything about changing him, just taking good care of." The avian said with sarcasm. The Soothsayer chuckled.

Crane helped a very reluctant Shen to take few steps to outside the room. Apparently he was a lot better but he still couldn't find good balance to keep firm in his walk. Crane turned around to say one more thing to the Soothsayer but she had disappeared.

_"What a fast old lady..." _Though Crane in amazement.

The group made their way back to Gongmen City in a very slow rate because of the peacock. Crane and Mei Ling tried to help by suggesting carrying him to the town but the proud peacock refused completely.

Mei Ling went closer to Crane for a private talk.

"I'm surprise that Po wanted to take him with us. Why didn't you said that you had that idea already?"

"I know Po very well, of course I wasn't sure he would want to. It was a risky guess. Luckily I was right. And besides it's much more easy to convince Shifu if the idea was of the Dragon Warrior, not mine" Mei Ling nodded.

After few minutes Crane decided to keep a closer watch on Shen since the peacock was staying behind regularly.

Much to Crane's annoyance, and Tigress as well, Mei Ling and Po were talking with each other with enthusiasm and laughing for no reason. Tigress was determinate to not express anything about the case but deep inside she was burning. Crane in the other hand was trying to pay more attention to the peacock than to other things.

Shen was showing exhaustion with the short walk so far. He didn't seem able to keep with them and Crane was stopping by many times to not let the other avian behind.

"You..don't have...to..wait..for me.I can..take care of...myself." Shen said while catching his breath. The peacock's stubbornness was very hard to deal with.

"Just let me help you, otherwise you'll fall from lack of strength. What do you care so much about your pride?I don't see any at all." Crane retorted with some irritation.

"I don't give...a damn about what...you see or not!...this matters to me only. I...I-

Shen fell to the ground with a soft thud. He was unconscious. Crane just sighed.

"I told you. Now you see how your pride is good enough to kill you?Just get over about it."

The waterfowl used his wings to raise Shen from the ground and placed him around his shoulders.

"You're heavier than before. That's good. Your healing indeed."

The two joined with the rest of the team few seconds later.

"What happened?" Asked Tigress that was keeping some distance from Po and Mei Ling.

"He got tired." Replied Crane while eyeing carefully the ground he was stepping." I'm surprise that you care." Tigress growled.

"I don't. I didn't want to be alone with those two. Besides..when she'll be leaving?" Tigress obviously was talking about the mountain cat.

Crane was clearly feeling uneasy with the question.

"Actually...I think she'll come along."

Crane felt the eyes of the tiger over him and he seriously though that she was going to mutilate him and Shen right there. Thankfully she didn't do or said anything. The waterfowl was anxious to reach the town already.

After one hour they reach the outskirts of Gongmen. The first problem was clear. They need to hide Shen until they could reach the establishment were the rest of the Five and most likely Shifu would be at that hour. It wouldn't make no good to the citizens to see Lord Shen being carried in the middle of the town by members of the Five. They made use of an old giant jar to hide the peacock inside. Shen was still unconscious and that was a good thing because otherwise the peacock would have yelled in protest about such idea.

"We'll need to pass in front of the palace first. That's not very good. Is crowded with guards in there." Mei Ling informed while they moved through the streets with Crane and Po carrying the giant jar.

"There is no other path that we can take?" Asked Crane while making sure to keep the jar steady.

"Any other path would take too long. Let's move on."

They made their way pass the citizens without raising any suspicions. Finally they reached the front of the palace.

"What do you see?" Asked Po to Tigress that was spying over the wall they were hiding behind.

"At least 40 guards..maybe more." She returned to the floor with a soft landing." Just be careful, if that thing falls we'll have our heads cut off."

"Ah common, we can take care of some guards." Po complained.

"Po, they're our allies, not our enemies. We can't just hit them in the face and keep moving on as if nothing happened." Crane clarified. Po knew the avian was right.

"Then I guess we just need to be careful." While the panda said that he lifted one of his hands to express his talking. That was enough to make the jar balance and almost fall. Mei Ling avoided the fall quickly by placing her both hands in the side were Po should be holding.

"Po!Careful!If you don't keep concentrate this will fall. Just don't worry, we'll pass through." Mei Ling said in an urgency.

"My bad." Apologized Po while placing his left hand back in the side of the jar.

"Alright, let's go." Tigress said leading the way.

**Meanwhile... **

Mantis and Monkey had been passing in the City's streets looking for fun and interesting tricks to do. Of course they had called a lot of attention of the citizens for their jokes and playful acts. For the first time in many years they found people who actually like this side of theirs.

"Man, that was cool!I wish I could have more beans..that was a nice trick you made there." Mantis said while walking along with his simian friend.

"It was something I learned from my brother, of course that I improved it a bit." Replied Monkey proudly. "What is that thing you're holding?" He asked pointing to the strange object that Mantis was carrying.

'Oh, this?Some street seller sold it to me saying it was some kind of glue-lying, thrown at someone and the person tries to take it off but it won't get out, only with very hot water."

"Hum...really, you tried on anyone yet?" Asked Monkey with curiosity. Mantis laughed a bit.

"I'll now. But I can't be catch doing this. Let's do this way..we throw it far away, in the middle of a crowd. Then we see what happens."

"Sounds like fun...but where we can find a crowd?"

Mantis eyed his surroundings and saw a big crowd right in front of the palace.

"There!About 60 meters I think...you can handle it?" Mantis asked giving the object to Monkey.

"I'm pretty sure I can. Wow, this thing is moist and jelly. Ok..here we go..."

**Meanwhile... **

"Man, look how many people there is around here, it's perfect!The guards won't see a thing."

"Quiet Po!Just focus on holding the jar." Advised Crane while avoiding to make physic contact with a citizen and with that losing the grip on the jar.

"Don't worry Crane, everything is under co-

Something went flying from nowhere and hit Po right in the face.

"AHHHHHHH!IS ON MY FACE!TAKE IT OFF, TAKE IT OFF!"

"PO!STOP!" Tigress, Mei Ling and Crane screamed. It was too late. The panda was trying furiously with his both hands to take the strange object of him and with that the jar fell to the side cracking in thousands of pieces. The citizens were running away in fear and surprise. The guards in front of the palace came running immediately.

Once the figure of Lord Shen was revealed all the citizens screamed and made a run for it. Crane went to the peacock's side to see if he got injured. Thankfully he didn't but the situation just got pretty bad. Tigress somehow managed to pass through the crowd to help Po and with that Crane and Mei Ling were left alone with Shen.

Soon they were surrounded by dozens of guards holding their large spars. There was no escape.

"Well, this can't get worse, can it?" Asked Crane trying to lighten up the situation.

"Crane..." Called Mei Ling. She sounded afraid.

"Yeah?" Replied Crane looking at her. She pointed discretely at whatever it was. Crane turned around.

It was Master Shifu. Along with Master Ox and Master Croc.

_"I'm doomed..." _

**A/N: Damn, I wish I could have written more! But it's good for now. I think this is not a cliffhanger..right?I don't want to make you guys suffer XD. Anyway I hope you all had a good reading!See you all next monday!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey!Nice to see you all again, yeah! Okay, I've talked enough already!To the replies!**

**Anonymousrules; **

Great review! Yes, you're absolutely right! I'm glad you liked the funny parts! I know that there should be more chatting between Po and Shen but that will happen for sure! 

**ShootingStar; **

I'm glad you liked, thanks a lot! 

**Holoispartain23-Carzynuts-strange dude-Raccon Girl;**

Yeah, I laughed a lot too just by thinking about it. Glad I made it right.

**International-Wonderland;**

Hehhe, the jar was a random idea but appears to be that it was funny after all.

**Alpha tiger;**

Wow, thanks! I wasn't sure if I had made them well.

**Unrealistic23; **

I just love that line, I got it from a video in Youtube.

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

Yeah, I got your full review, thanks a lot man! It's good to have you back!

**eld mcm;**

Lol, of course not. I want a hug too!;U; I really need one. 

**Kungfusion;**

heheh, that was hilarious indeed. But I bet he didn't though the same. :P

There were days that Crane could stand well no matter how hard or exhaustive they were. There were days were he could feel finally at peace and thanked for being alive and able to see the sun rising again. Others days he would just want to be someone else, no matter who.

Today...Crane wanted to be a rock.

A rock was something simple, it could be small or large, it could be white, green, blue..whatever. Nobody would care about a rock. It was something to be easily ignored thanks for the insignificance that it had to the world. It was just something ordinary that makes part of the nature. Maybe some people can talk about the importance of the rocks but the rest wouldn't give a damn.

Crane, in the other hand, knew that he was far from being ordinary. Far from being insignificant or ignored. And thanks to his latest actions now he was the center of the attentions of one of the most important towns in the Chinese Empire and a part of the most respected kung fu warriors of all time.

Shamefully most of them weren't looking at him with good eyes.

Crane tried to remember the last time he saw Master Shifu looking at him in such way. He couldn't. The waterfowl never disobeyed or disrespected his master before. Apart of Tigress he was the biggest example of how a great kung fu warrior should behave. Not that Crane did that to call attention of his master, he just feel that he wouldn't want to get Shifu angry with him. The avian could remember when Mantis and Monkey made a play-out with Tigress once and after the two almost got killed they got a terrible punishment from Shifu.

Mei Ling was next to him. She was nervous with the situation. Crane suggested her to stay close to Shen, the peacock somehow was still unconscious. Crane honestly prefer Shen to be that way instead of awake facing what was happening at the moment.

There were some loud noises right next to them and it became clear that Tigress was still trying to help Po with whatever had hit the panda. Inwardly Crane swore revenge against whoever thrown the object, if he manage to get out of this alive of course.

"Po!Keep quiet!I can't take it off with you shaking like that!" Tigress was having very difficult to help Po. The two approached of the group of guards that were surrounding Crane, Ling and Shen. Master Shifu watched while raising an eyebrow Tigress and Po arguing and acting rather strangely.

"I demand an explanation right now!What you people are doing?And how HE is alive?And why were you hiding him?" Master Shifu's voice was loud but controlled. The first question was more about Tigress and Po's actions. The second was for all, and the third was more to Crane and Mei Ling.

"Master!I'm so sorry!I can explain, we..Po stop already!" Tigress started but Po was throwing her off-balance." I swear that when I find who thrown this!.."

Ironically Mantis and Monkey had reached to the area to check if they prank had worked. In the good side it did!In the bad side..well, they could see the results. After hearing Tigress last speech they froze in shock. Afraid of being caught the two decided to leave without calling attention. For their bad luck Crane saw them.

"Hey!Mantis, Monkey!We need a hand here."

"Coming!...damn." Said Mantis while moving along with Monkey. They reached to Po and Tigress first. The feline stared at them while trying to take her hand off the panda's face.

"Do you two idiots have any idea of how to take this off?I got stuck!" She said angrily while placing her leg over Po's chest and pushing her arm the strongest she could. Po moaned in pain and agony, if she keep doing that Po's face fur would be removed at once and it wouldn't be a nice view.

Monkey laughed nervously looking at Mantis with pleading eyes. Mantis returned with a death glare.

"Hum...looks some kind of special glue.." The insect said taking a close look by jumping over Po's head. Tigress growled furiously.

"NO?REALLY?HOW I TAKE IT OFF?"

"Maybe some hot water can do it." The insect said jumping to his simian friend shoulder.

"That's great. Po, let's go. We can resolve Crane's matter later." The feline dragged Po along the street in the direction of a bathhouse.

Mater Shifu was going to order the two to stay but when he heard "Crane's matter" it was obvious with who he really need to talk. Crane gulped nervously.

_"Tigress...did I ever told you how much I'm thankful for your help?"_ Though Crane with a mix of anger and sarcasm.

"CRANE!" Called Master Shifu. The avian was shaken off of his thoughts instantly."We need to talk very seriously. Master Ling, I'll ask you to stay here while I talk with Crane inside the palace. The guards will take Lord Shen to his cell."

At this some guards approached of the peacock. Mei Ling snapped instantly and placed some direct kicks on the antelopes. The guards flew some meters away. The mountain cat assumed a defensive stance next to Shen's body that was laying on the ground.

"I'm sorry boys, you'll have to pass through me first." She said playfully while taking her staff off of her back.

_"What the hell you think you're doing Ling?"_ Though Crane while looking at her with clear desperation. When she prepared to use the staff Crane knew that she mean it. Of course the avian wasn't expecting her rebellious side to take place right now, that was another problem to deal with.

Master Shifu didn't like it a bit. Master Ox eyed the feline carefully and Master Croc laughed softly at the female cat.

"Oh, so the girl knows how to play hard, huh?Let's see what you got." The Crocodile went forward the mountain cat. Mei Ling wasn't smiling anymore but smirking instead.

_"Oh, no."_ Though Crane while his eyes widened in realization.

Master Croc apparently tried to make the first move by attacking her through the sides with his large tail. Somehow Mei Ling moved with blindly speed jumping over him and placing a strong hit with her staff over Croc's head. Master Croc could only see stars for few seconds and before he could recover Mei Ling launched an assault of striking hits on the Croc, sometimes with her hands other with her staff. Angry enough Master Croc decided to use his spear. The crocodile stop dead in his tracks when his hand sensed only air instead of metal.

"What?Where's..?" He said trying to look over his back.

"Looking for this?" Said a joking voice. Master Croc turned around to see Mei Ling holding his large spear in her left hand while the other had her staff. The crocodile eavesdropped slightly and gulped nervously.

"Er...can't we talk about this?" He asked nervously. The mountain cat chuckled. Mei Ling throw the spear back to Master Croc that seemed surprise and confuse.

"Master Shifu, I understand that the situation is very...ankward. But there is a good reason of why this is happening. Me and Crane would be very glad to talk about it but only if Lord Shen comes along. I can't really tell of why but it needs to be this way."

The red panda nodded carefully. His eyes were fixed in the mountain cat. There was something in those eyes that Crane didn't saw in a long time. Shifu was impressed. Not very happy about it but impressed anyway.

"Maybe so. Very well then. You two carry Shen along with you to the palace. Master Ox, Master Croc. I know that you want to have a part in this but just this time let me handle it. It's my student that got involved in this so it's my responsibility." Shifu said formally while still glaring at the mountain cat and back to Crane.

"So be it Shifu, tell us soon what's going to be of all of this. We'll come later." Agreed Master Ox while leaving along with Master Croc. Croc was still trying to understand how Mei Ling got the upper hand so easily.

"What are you laughing at?She's tough!I never saw someone fight like that before, not since Maste..." Croc's voice died in the distance while he tried to justify himself to Ox who must had been laughing of the crocodile.

Shifu sighed. The Five, Po and him would be leaving in the morning but then this happened. He didn't know what it was worse, the fact of Shen still be alive or that it was Master Crane who had hidden the fact. Of each one of his students Crane was surely one that Shifu would always be proud of training. The bird's dedication, loyalty, discipline and bravery along the years were enough to earn the deep respect of his master.

But now everything was on the table and placed in a bet. How Crane found Shen?Why he saved the peacock?Why he hide it from Shifu and some of his colleagues. Shifu strongly believed that besides Ling some other members of the Five knew about it. Po surely knew since the avian and the panda were close friends.

"Follow me." Ordered Shifu leading the way to the palace's main entrance. Crane helped Mei Ling to carry Shen.

"Thanks...I..did not expect that you would care so much about-

Crane was starting to express his gratitude towards the mountain cat but she cut him off quickly.

"I'm not doing this for him but for you Jien," She said with a serious expression."You own me two now."

The waterfowl chuckled. Same old Mei Ling, things hadn't change much in her personality. But he wondered why he owned her two, it was supposed to be one. When was the first one?

The guards that Mei Ling had knocked out before were escorting them along the way. Most were still unhappy with the fact that they took a beat, especially from a women.

Crane's mind was racing a mile per hour. What now?Would Shifu ask for his story?Would him want to know the reason behind saving the peacock?And...would he allow Crane to still keep caring of the Lord?What about Mei Ling?Would she be allowed to come to the Jade Palace this time?Would Shifu ask if anyone else had part on this?

The red panda stood still in front of the stairs of the palace. He turned around and ordered the guards to return to their positions, the guards bowed respectfully and carried the order by leaving immediately.

"Crane, Mei Ling," Shifu said calling their attention. "Normally we would head upstairs to discuss the seriousness of the situation but I'm afraid that I'll request the presence of the Dragon Warrior and the rest of the Five before starting anything. Wait for me at the Royal dinning room. I'll return shortly. If you need anything ask for a palace servant. I'm not sure why they still have them here since...well, I'll be back soon." With that the red panda jumped over the huge wall and left.

"O...kay. Then, let's go." Crane suggested. The trio moved towards the stairs to reach the third floor where the dining room was located. Once they get there Shen was placed over the very large dining table. The peacock apparently was fine, at least he didn't have any other injuries caused by the fall of the jar.

"Why you don't make him wake up and tell the good news?" Suggested Mei Ling while sitting in a chair next to her. Crane nodded.

"Shen...Shen, hey!WAKE UP!" The bird yelled over his ear making causing the albino bird to open his eyes abruptly. He slowly raised and go to his feet. A loud metal noise was made and it was clear that Shen was still using his foot coverings. The noise caught Crane's attention.

"What's that?" The avian asked pointing with his wing to Shen's feet.

"Doesn't matter." Shen responded with extreme ignorance. Mei Ling smiled gently at Crane as if she was saying 'why do you still try?". Crane pretended to ignore her.

"Doesn't hurt to ask you know..." The avian said while taking a chair for himself and placing his straw hat over the table."Well, I have good news and bad news."

Shen eyed the crane with suspicious.

"Like what?" Crane played with his hat distractedly before answering.

"The good news..you're still alive." Shen looked away while acting as if he was shocked.

"That's a surprise indeed. I was sure that your stupid plan would result in nothing," The peacock said with short patient."What else?"

Crane and Mei Ling shared a quick look at each other.

"We...got caught." The bird said while looking to the other way as if he was ashamed of his failure. What the waterfowl wasn't expecting is that the peacock would look at him with such superiority.

"That's...not a surprise. I knew that you would mess up after all." Crane didn't saw any fairness in Shen's words.

"What?I didn't mess up! It wasn't my fault!" Crane said in his own defense. Shen didn't believe on him of course.

"Aren't you afraid?" Asked Mei Ling suddenly. Shen laughed evilly.

"Afraid of what?I maybe not be at my best form but I feel good enough to put over a fight. I can handle myself! I don't need a nanny to tell me what to do!Why you two don't just go away and let me handle of this?" The peacock was letting again his pride blind his eyes to the reality of the situation.

"Wow, you sir is really a confident guy." Mei Ling said. If Crane wasn't present at the moment he would not believe at what he just heard. There was no sarcasm or mocking in the mountain cat's words, there was something else. Crane knew Mei Ling for a long time and he knew what it did sound like. Admiration.

Before the waterfowl could make any attempt to take an explanation from Mei Ling they heard several footsteps. It appeared to be that they were coming from the hallway. After few minutes the huge doors opened revealing Master Shifu along with the Five and Po.

Instantly Crane went to Shen's side as mother would to protect her child. Shen almost freak out with that.

"What the hell you're doing?" Muttered Shen angrily to the other avian. The peacock didn't want to speak loud and call the attention of everyone else.

"What?Oh..I just...sorry." Crane took a step back while blushing. The waterfowl didn't know why he did such strange move. Shen pretend that nothing happened and focused his attention on the newcomers.

"Everyone may sit," Master Shifu said with authority and they all did it so." Very well then, let's resolve this."

**A/N: Gahfhagk(being strangled by someone who hates cliffhangers)That's!dkafm all!gmska for!lhdjhn today!gshh, see...you all! Next mon...day!Heellpp!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey there everyone, yes yes I know...and the update?**

**Well, the next chapter is ready already :p BUT I'll post it on Wednesday. The reason?Well...none of your business!**

**Nah, just kidding! I'm moving of house right now and I've worked the entire week until later night to help with the change so I lost all the free time I had to dedicated to this fic.**

**But I have excellent news!**

**1- New chapter on sunday!(Duh)**

**2- I've received many requests in the last weeks about another possible fic for KFP and I'm happy to announce that my next fic will have as main protagonist Crane and Tigress. Since CranexTigress is a so much unexplored couple I think it's the time of someone try to take this one seriously. And by that I mean to do a decent fic of them and finish it.**

**3- Of course I received several requests for CranexMei Ling but I will leave that one for the end of the year. I'm already planning to do a fic for One Piece so such fic would take my time away of it. Also I'm panning to make a fic for Pokemon.**

**4- Since I delayed this chapter quite a bit I'll update 3 chapters in 2 weeks for your happiness. Maybe more.**

**Now I'll be sincere. Almost a month without updates...that's unaceptable!I'm really sorry for this.I really am. The reason is that with changing house we lost connection with the internet for 3 weeks. And I usually wrote the fics directly in the page manager to avoid many errors. unfortunately I don't have Word so...yeah. I had to install one in my computer then started to work on the chapters all over again. It really sucks. Even so I knew I was in the need of compensate the delay. Well, here's the first part of it. By the way...I hate Lan Houses!**

**Guest;**

I hope that the fact that I lost internet for 3 weeks is good enough to you.

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

I just love how you're so polite sometimes even when you know about my problem already and just when I got back you make sure that I'll remind my work, thank you so much for the consideration.

Crane felt his breath slowing down considerably while being on his seat with all his comrades around him. He was nervous, unsure, feeling...weak. It has been a long time since he experienced such things. Sitting on his left was Mei Ling and on his right was Lord Shen. Right in front of him was Po, Shifu, Tigress, Monkey, Viper and Mantis. Only few of them were looking at him because in other moments they would stare at the peacock. Fear, confusion and disappointment. That's what the avian could see in their eyes.

Master Shifu was reading a large scroll that was laying in front of him, Crane didn't know what it was written in it but somehow he felt that he didn't want to anyway. The red panda slowly gazed up to see his student awaiting for his judgment.

"Master Crane...before we start, there's any request you would like to make?" Shifu asked. His tone was indifferent so far, that was a good sign.

Crane knew that he had something to ask to Shifu or maybe two things. He looked at Po waiting for a reassurance. The panda nodded slightly giving guarantees of supporting his avian friend.

"I...Master Shifu...I_ *cough*_ would like to...ask for Mei Ling and Lord Shen to return with us to the Jade Palace."

"WHAT?"

Everybody except Po, Tigress, Mei Ling and Shen suddenly got petrified at the avian's request.

"Are you insane?You want to bring him to the Valley?" Asked Shifu holding his temper the best he could while referring to Lord Shen.

"Master Shifu!" Called Po coming towards the red panda. "I think it would be an interesting idea if we bring Shen along, I mean..what's the big deal?We can handle him and besides this is a great opportunity!"

Shifu's right eye twitched considerably before finding his own speech again.

"Oh, really?Opportunity for what panda?"

"Hum...well, he can show to us that he regret his actions and can change his ways, what? It's not like he's all heartless, right?" Po asked looking at Shen. The peacock grunted and fixed his eyes to the floor on a futile attempt to pretend that the panda wasn't in the same room with him.

Before Shifu could say anything Tigress came to Po's side with a worried expression.

"Are you sure about this Po?I mean, I understand that you think that Shen can change somehow," Tigress let her disbelief very clear at that point and Crane felt a bit annoyed with that."But you can't forget about the things he did before. What happened with the 'Conquering China' and 'trying to kill you' subjects?"

At that Po couldn't help but remember about the family and village he lost when he was a cub. Shen is the responsible for that after all.

"Ah, common Tigress, like I said!If he regret his actions why wouldn't he dispose to be different from what he is now?I think it deserves a try."

"Panda, we're just discussing a very serious topic here, are you really sure about this? I cannot feel comfortable about such possibility." Asked Shifu firming his voice a bit more.

"Don't worry Shifu, I know what I'm doing." Po replied waving his hand as if he was indicating that everything was fine.

Shifu sighed. If he denied Po would be insisting for weeks until his master decided to agree with the suggestion.

"What do you all think about this?" The red panda asked to his other students.

"Humf...as long I don't have to be his babysitter, I'm cool with it." Replied Mantis. Monkey chuckled at his friend's speech. Viper remained silent and didn't expressed her personal opinion for some reason.

"I'm fine with it too, if he doesn't cause any trouble..." Said Monkey with light concern.

"Master Shifu, if he really come with us...where he's going to sleep?We have only one room available and Mei Ling is coming too." Asked Tigress. Shifu seemed a bit confused for a moment. So as Viper and Shen.

Shen was impressed that the feline tiger didn't refereed about him with the 'it'. Viper wasn't expecting to hear about such crazy idea. It could seem incredible but Viper didn't have anything against Shen coming along but the mountain cat was the exception.

Apparently Viper's digusted face passed unnoticed by everyone else except for Shen. The peacock surely though that the snake didn't like the idea of him coming along. Meanwhile Shifu was trying to clarify his confusion.

"What?Mei Ling?" The red panda eyed the mountain cat." You're also pretending to come with us?" He asked. Mei Ling slowly nodded. "Hum, I believe that you deserve that opportunity after all. Crane wouldn't stop asking me every month to invite you to the palace. At first I didn't because I wasn't sure of your skills and I wasn't instructed to bring you along on the day I invited Crane. I hope you can understand this."

Mei Ling smiled gently. Sure, she could understand why, even so it was hard to believe that it had taken so long for an acceptance.

"It's ok Master Shifu, I'm really thankful for the opportunity."

"Very well then, now...Crane," The panda had focused on the avian in front of him."Your last actions in the past days maybe don't seem very logical or safe for most of us, but your compassion reveals the person that you are indeed. I do not agree with bringing Shen along with us...but we will. But be advised, he will be under your responsibility and also of Po's. Mei Ling will need to be instructed of our way of living in the palace and I want you to carry this task as well."

Master Shifu's expression was so serious that Crane was having a hard time to look at his master in the eyes.

"I will Master, I promise." Replied Crane. The avian tried to contain the best he could his happiness. Mei Ling would finally come along with him. He waited so long for that. But there was a price to pay and that only could mean Lord Shen.

Shifu nodded being able to see that Crane was truthful on his words and would make all efforts possible to accomplish his tasks. Now the red panda would need to inform the other masters about the final decision.

"I'll be right back, we'll be leaving in few hours. While so...why you all don't introduce yourselves properly for our new guest."

When Shifu closed the door everyone eyed the peacock.

It was becoming clear that Shen was growing nervous with that attention. He didn't want introductions, he didn't cared about them at all. It didn't matter who they were or what they do, especially because the peacock knew enough about them to be annoyed.

"Err...what Shifu mean with 'introducing properly'?" Asked Monkey while scratching the back of his head.

"How we usually receive new members?" Pointed Mantis. Everyone except Shen and Mei Ling tried to think about it and soon they were all giving suggestions.

"With a test of courage!" Said Po.

"With a contest of trickery!" Screamed Mantis.

"With a good fight." Said Tigress.

"With a mortal obstacle course." Said Viper.

"With a...what?" Monkey forgot about what he was going to say after hearing Viper's suggestion.

"Nothing." She said back looking around innocently.

"Guys, would you all relax?" Asked Crane finally speaking after few moments of silence. "Look, I think that Master Shifu said that we should talk about ourselves, not about making any special ceremony. You know...get to know each other."

Mantis laughed a lot after Crane finish talking.

"What's so funny?" Asked the waterfowl with a bad feeling about it.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that you and Mei Ling already know each other more than necessary for any normal meeting."

While Crane blushed furiously Mei Ling just tried to look to anything that not the other members of the Five.

A small chuckle called everyone's else attention. They were shocked to see that it was Shen who did it. The peacock seemed amused for few seconds but right after he saw them looking at him he instantly returned to his neutral expression.

"It's just me or he was smiling?" Asked Monkey with wide eyes.

"I think he was. Maybe there's hope for him after all." Said Viper.

"So, what nickname we should give to him?" Mantis wondered while jumping on Po's left shoulder. The panda's expression hardened a bit.

"Nickname? Ahh..I don't know, maybe...

"I'M STILL HERE YOU KNOW, I CAN HEAR EVERYTHING, DON'T ACT AS IF I WASN'T PRESENT." Yelled Shen letting go his temper.

Everyone jumped at the sudden lost of control of the peacock. Then Mei Ling, Tigress and Viper all frowned at Crane. The waterfowl smiled nervously. The girls surely won't help him with the 'Shen matter'.

"Hum..Shen, maybe you should rest a bit you know...get some sleep and.." Crane tried to take the lord away but it wasn't going to be that way.

"I don't need your suggestions bird. I'm fine thank you very much." The peacock retorted with mockery.

After half an hour Shifu returned and leaded all of them back to gather their things and leave the town for good. It wasn't necessary to say that the hole city knew already that the peacock was still alive. Somehow they found out that one of the members of the Five saved the Lord from death. They didn't know exactly who but even so it was enough to make all the citizens look at them with certain disgust and hate. They had suffered too much by the hands of Shen to forgive him or anyone else related with the Lord.

Shen couldn't care less about the citizens, especially now after he realized how much happy they were when they though he was dead. The peacock wanted so much to release some of his fury over them, make them suffer terribly until the last moments of their miserable lifes.

Of course this was not the case. Being held as a prisoner by the Five wasn't going to bring any progress on his plans to retake his power. It was going to be a long road to that and he knew that he would need to deal with that stupid bird and the rest of his friends. The last thing that Shen wanted was to be left alone with the damned panda. Shen would just avoid him every time. He refused to friendship them. Shen never had friends, and he would never have.

The Five were becoming quite concerned about the hostility that the citizens were showing towards them. It was new and quite unusual for the Five an Po to see people looking at them as if they were criminals. It didn't feel right.

They reached the establishment sooner than they expected and went upstairs to take their belongs. Shen waited with Mei Ling outside. There were still some people outside keeping an eye on the peacock.

_"Great, why I have to wait with him? I did something wrong?_" Mei Ling though with herself while making sure that the peacock wouldn't just disappear all of sudden. Shen was staring quietly at the floor. He was so distract that he didn't notice that the Five and Po had already returned with their personal belongs.

"Alright, let's go!" Said Po leading the way. When he moved down the street Monkey called him back.

"Po!It's the other way!" The panda shifted quickly and pass in front of them again.

"Alright, let's go for real then!" Almost everybody rolled their eyes.

_"Stupid panda, don't even know the right direction to where he lives."_ Shen really didn't understand how he was defeated by such dumb head. He was called back to the reality when he felt Crane next to him. He stared up at the taller bird with clear annoyance.

"Time to get going, you need help with anything?" Asked the waterfowl quite gently.

"I'm fine, I don't need your help." Crane smirked.

"Sure, you never needed...isn't that right?"

Shen watched as the crane walked away to follow the others. After few seconds the peacock follow right behind him.

_"Soon you'll be the one who'll need my help bird."_

**A/N: Ok,ok. Not really large but next one will be and I hope I don't lose internet again hehe. If that happens Charlie maybe end paying me a visit. I really don't want that. I don't mind about reviews about this chapter(or any other honestly) since I didn't make up my promise so I don't deserve it. Have a nice weekend!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hi everyone!Yeah, update. I'm sorry for the wait, my account was a bit messed up. Anyway let's go to the point.**

**Hamgirl;**

Thank you so much for the review, I'm enjoying a lot Twisted Feathers, it's very good!Althought I wished it was a slash...bah, nevermind.

**Guest afraid of Shen becoming a villain again;**

Well, it wouldn't be interesting without suspense and some drama. Maybe he does..maybe he doesn't, who knows?Yes, I have watched South Park and if you readded carefully those ShenxMei Ling and etc..are just moments, it won't lead to anything really serious...well, maybe Ling and Shen or Crane and Shen...who knows?Well...me, and I'll keep that way.

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

So that is your account, huh Wise?XD Lol, good to know that is you and you keep reading this. I'm really thankful. Forgive me for the long waiting.

**International-Wonderland;**

Er...o-o *blushes* t-thank you...I...don't know what to say. I do intend to make a CranexTigress...I mean, why not?It's time for a bigger effort on those.

**Strange dude, Anonymousrules, ShootingStar and CarzyNuts;**

You guys are the most anom dedicated reviewers that I've ever seen before. I mean, there's no way to express in words you great dedication towards this story. I thank you all for the support.

**All the other Guests;**

Seriously I didn't like of the change about not being able to pick a name for anom. But I'm sure that most of you are old reviewers with remarkable attention to this plot. I thank all the old and news reviewers and readers for the dedication. My only way to express gratitude is by updating and keeping this story going forward. Thank you all!

''So..what exactly I'll be doing at the palace?" Asked Shen rather hesitantly. Crane blinked. It was the first time after several hours that the peacock had said something after they left Gongmen. The Furious Five, Shen, Mei Ling and Master Shifu were using a large vessel to return through the rivers to they home, this way they would spare a lot of time in the trip back home like they did before. Except that this time they have more passengers so a larger boat was required.

Crane, by logical decision, isolated himself with Shen at the stern. This way Shen would interact much less with the others and the chance of him making something stupid would be very small.

''Hum..I really don't know yet. Maybe...'' Crane responded while thinking hard. True to be told, he had no idea of what exactly Shen would have to do once they reach the Valley of Peace.

Shen could see the confusion in Crane's eyes clearly.

''You just don't have a clue, do you?'' The peacock asked already knowing what the answer would be.

''No, I don't.'' Admitted Crane lowering his eyes at defeat.

''I knew it.'' Said Shen with superiority. Crane sighed.

''Well, if that so..why did you asked in the first place?''

Shen's air of superiority vanished instantly. He eyed the crane with complete hatred and made a strange gesture with his wings. Crane being a bird totally knew what it mean.

''You surely know how to insult the others, I wonder if you know to make a compliment.'' The waterfowl replied without letting himself be bothered about the peacock's gesture.

''You know nothing about me, only what I told you. And that wasn't not even a small part of all the things I accomplished along the years.''

''Maybe I have a good idea of what those things were, and the citizens of Gongmen too since they weren't much happy with you at all.''

Leaving Gongmen wasn't easy as it should have been. Before they could reach the gates there was a massasive crowd in front of them. It didn't took too long to the group realize that the people of Gongmen had gathered and were making a public manifestation against the Furious Five and that they were protecting Shen. Only because the peacock was still alive was enough to make them really angry and afraid. If they were spotted they would be doomed.

Master Shifu surely tried to argue with the crowd but Crane wisely suggested that they should keep hiding instead.

***Flashback***

_''Let me talk with them. I can put some sense in their heads.'' Shifu said after observing carefully the several people in their path._

_''I'm not entirely sure about this Master, maybe we should try another way.'' Recommended Tigress moving next to Shifu. Po was with both of them too, apparently he seemed calm but inside he was trembling like crazy._

_''Master, maybe you should listen to Tigress. Look at them! They only thing they're missing are the torches!''_

_''Calm down panda, this is no reason for pani- '' Shifu was interrupted by the crowd that started to scream allthogheter._

_''BURN THE PEACOCK!BURN THE PEACOCK!BURN THE PEACOCK!''_

_''Er...can we panick now?'' Asked Po smiling nervously. Shifu sighed._

_''Master, I don't mean to be rude but anything that you say won't make a difference now. They maybe even take you as a target. I would suggest that we should sneak out of here.'' Crane said with some urgence since the crowd was moving towards their direction._

_''Crane is right Master Shifu, if we go that way we may end as dead meat too.'' Supported Mei Ling._

_Everyone waited for Shifu's decision and they were glad that he made the right choice._

_''Very well then, let's move out. Keep your heads down and move silently.''_

***End Flashback***

''Those people don't concern me at all, if I was in my best form I would've kill all of them without problem.'' The peacock retorted aggressively.

''Seriously? That's the way you resolve things? By killing people?'' Crane asked in amazement. Shen raised an eyebrow.

''What would I do instead? Give them hugs and ask for forgiveness?''

Crane again blinked in surprise. Did the peacock just made a sarcastic retort? One that Crane couldn't reply back? It was just the waterfowl's impression or Shen was reminding Crane of himself?

"I...never mind."

Crane was too tired to have another argument with the peacock. Instead he went to talk with Mei Ling that was right at the other side of the boat.

She seemed relaxed and distracted enjoying the view of the mountains and trees at the edges of the large river. It was quiet even for and end of morning.

The mountain cat heard the soft footsteps coming closer to her and turned around to face her avian friend.

"Hey there," Called Crane. "Having a nice moment to rest?" Mei Ling chuckled.

"You wish...just thinking about the next adventure. That's all." She said returning her view back to the nature. Crane nodded.

"I understand. Do you..think that now everything will be like it was..before?"

Mei Ling turned her attention back at the avian again. Her expression of curiosity and confusion made Crane a bit more unsure about going forward in this subject.

"You mean..like at Yunnán?..maybe, I'm not really sure. I wished we could live those days again. It's been a long time, right?"

Crane could understand what she mean, even so her sad voice made him concerned about what she was really expecting.

"A long time. I miss those days too. But..it's not like they're gone forever, we're together again. Maybe this time things can work at our favor."

"We never know Jien, what if something happens again? There's no way to expected the unexpected. I know that we barely started but...I'm afraid that it ends sooner than we though again."

Crane's thoughts just went blank. What she was trying to say? She was afraid of loosing him? Like at many years ago? Nonsense, what of worst could happen anyway?

"You don't have to worry about it, I'm not going anywhere. Trust me on that." The avian said with confidence trying to make his friend to feel better. But Mei Ling surprised Crane when she talked about what really was bothering her.

"It's not about where you are or what you're doing Jien. I'm worried about your safety." She said coming closer towards him and whispering the last words. Crane nearly took a step back, he wasn't expecting that at all.

"What do you mean?" He asked trying to get the point already. Mei Ling sighed heavily.

"The peacock," Crane's expression hardened considerably. " What if he hurts you?"

"Why would he?" Crane asked almost on a challenging tone of voice.

"Why? You know what I'm talking about. He is dangerous Crane," The avian noticed that she didn't used his name this time."I know that even you don't fully trust him because that would be foolishness. You're one of the most intelligent persons that I've ever met in my life. I know that you wouldn't do such thing without thinking carefully."

Crane just wanted to leave to a corner and be alone right now. He didn't avoid an argument with Shen just to end in one with Mei Ling. He didn't replied but nodded with his head slightly. His eyes were fixed at calm water of the river. He remembered then that he didn't took a bath since a long time ago.

Such simple thought almost made him laugh. It was something so simple and that he enjoyed so much that it made all the other concerns to erase themselves of his mind.

Mei Ling saw Crane's smile forming and she wondered what has gotten into her friend. She though that it was a sad smiling of realization about all his future complications that the avian would have to face.

"You know...I need a bath." The avian said after few seconds. Mei Ling stared at him with wide eyes. Then for Crane's surprise she started laughing. After few moments she finally stop and recover her posture, or most of it.

"Ahh, Jien. You're just the same, so calm and only worried about such simple things. I think you haven't change much after all. I really missed someone like you. Life at the academy is so stressful."

Before Crane could reply Po came close to them.

"Hey!What's up you two? Well, lunch is at the table! We're waiting. Oh and...I left Shen's part over the small crate. I guess he don't want to eat with us..yet. See you soon!" The panda left in a hurry.

_'He must be really hungry,'_ Though Crane while observing the panda leaving quite quickly for a guy of his size. Mei Ling follow after Po and her tail touched softly Crane's legs. '_Gafhgatkladg!'_

Shen was observing the whole scene. He didn't hear much of the conversation of the cat and the tall bird but he had the strange feeling that they were talking about him. So few minutes later the dumb panda showed up to say something, probably nothing really interesting and left in a blink of an eye.

Crane went to get his food. He saw all his friends gathered around the fire that Po had made to cook. Honestly Crane was extremely concerned about making fire inside a boat of wood. Surely it wasn't one of Po's best ideas. But since the boat was still in one piece he had no choice but hope that it would keep that way.

Everyone saw Crane and they were expecting that the avian would join them. But Crane just got his plate and left back to the stern.

"Was up with him? Doesn't he likes of us anymore?" Asked Mantis feeling a bit offended by Crane's decision.

"Common Mantis, he has to keep and eye on Shen, like Master Shifu said." Monkey said on Crane's defense.

"I know that he has responsibilities but even so...I kind miss having him around to laugh and make jokes about." The bug said trying to justify his disappointment.

"Me too budy, me too."

Crane caught Shen's plate and delivered it to the albino avian. Shen's wounds had healed pretty fast but he still had difficult to move properly his legs and left wing. Th waterfowl took notice of the metal coverings that the peacock still was using on his feet.

"Why you use those things? They're weapons?" Asked him hoping that he wouldn't be asking something very personal.

While Shen received his plate muttering why it had taken so long the peacock froze still. That was something that nobody never asked him before. Not even the Soothsayer.

"I...it doesn't matter." Shen said not really wanting to enter in the subject. Crane otherwise seemed genuinely concerned.

"Why?" He asked coming closer to the other bird. The peacock didn't liked of this approximation.

"It, doesn't, matter! Now if you don't mind why you don't concern about only yourself and your girlfriend?"

Crane tripped while taking a step back. Girlfriend? Did Shen really said that?

"What? Wait,who? Mei Ling?Er..no, she is not my.."

"I don't care!" The Lord said interrupting the other avian." Would you just leave me alone?"

Crane was afraid that Shen would be acting in such way. The peacock didn't want to listen to anyone.

"You know...I saved your life...all I want is to talk with you." The waterfowl was disappointed and sad. He left slowly to a corner to eat alone.

Shen watched him as he left. He was angry with the crane but for some reason he felt weird all of sudden, as if Crane's words had made him feel odd. He reminded of feeling something familiar at the old house but this time it felt more...significant.

After half an hour Mei Ling showed up and saw Crane in the corner. Her eyes absorbed the strange scene, she thought that he would be with Shen at least but instead he was all alone. She rolled her eyes and went to the crane's direction. Probably Jien didn't have a nice moment with the peacock and choose to be alone.

"So..you look great, taking a time for yourself, huh?" The mountain cat asked with a hint of sarcasm to her avian friend. Crane didn't pay much attention to her. It was clear that the avian was upset. Realizing this Mei Ling knew how to cheer him up.

"After we reach the palace and make all the obvious stuff I was thinking...don't you want to take a walk or something at night? It would be nice to take a real moment to relax a bit."

That surely brought the avian's attention to her. Crane stared at her in a such odd way that Mei Ling was starting to feel embarrassed.

"Wait...you're...asking..me out?" The waterfowl's voice came out with great difficulty. Crane couldn't believe of what he just heard. Mei Ling seemed confused.

"Huh? Hum..no," Crane winced as if he have received a punch in the belly. "Actually it's just a walk around the village and so you can tell me everything about the place without having to worry about nothing else, especially peacocks."

Now it was Crane's turn to be embarrassed.

"Oh, right! The village...yeah. That's..that's right. Yeah, that would be great." Crane replied smiling feeling completely ashamed.

"See you tomorrow at night then." The mountain cat left gracefully while being followed by Crane's eyes. The waterfowl was daydreaming while looking at her. Shen saw his odd behavior.

_'What a idiot. He's already falling for her...that will fit well to me. Be ready for the future bird, it won't last.'_

**A/N: Well, wasn't bigger as expected but I hope it's enough. Cya until next chapter**!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Well, here's the new chapter, this one was quite...hard to write since I was in one of those days that you don't want to do a damn thing. So here it is!**

**TheWhisperingWarrior; **

Well, that surely is a general concern. It might happen...if it happens then...good luck for Shen. 

**Huntress4455;**

Thank you so much for the review and I'm really happy that you think of Crane that way now. Actually each character is awesome on their own way, we just need to find the right one. And the grammar is my greatest concern since I started. Well, it's not like I'm trying to be a pro or something. :P But I do want to make it better but sometimes...I miss some parts.

**Alpha Tiger;**

Thanks! Good to see you again!

**Hamgirl;**

Glad you liked! :)

**Shen's follower;**

I'm going to be honest. I don't support CranexViper but it's just that. I do support CranexMei Ling and Cranex(not really going to say it.) And I know that thing about PoXTigress but there's nothing bad at writing a CraneXTigress. I even wrote this CranexShenxMei Ling stuff. When it's about FF...well, you can choose whoever you want. 

**Unrealistic23;**

Yeah, Charlie is a figure..speaking of it...why the the bastard didn't review the last chapter?" 

**Guests;**

THANKS A LOT FOR THE SUPPORT!

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"...and now?"

"Nooo."

"Ok."

"_*sigh_*"

"What about now?"

"FOR THE SAKE OF MY SANITY THAT'S STILL LEFT PANDA WE'LL NOT BE THERE UNTIL SUNSET!"

The group of warriors that included The Furious Five, Mei Ling, Master Shifu, The Dragon Warrior and Lord Shen had abandoned the boat long ago. They would have to make the rest of the voyage back home on foot. Po got tired right after they left the boat.

**Flashback- **

_The panda feel to his knees instantly. The intense sun and the dry air were too much for him to handle._

_'I failed them,' Though Po as his vision started to blur. 'I couldn't...I tried my best..no matter what happens with me...I hope they're ok...goodbye ...you guys were...the family I never had..and Tigress...I wished so much to say to you...that-_

_"Po?" Said a female voice. The panda raised his head with extreme difficult. He saw a familiar shape."Po, are you alright?"_

_It was Mei Ling._

_"Ling..." Whispered Po. "I can't take it anymore..I..lost all my strength..the road...it never ends!...I..I failed." _

_"Po...you're only 20 meters away from the boat and you're already exhausted?" _

_The panda's eyes went wide. He saw not too far away all the others giving him the odd looks while they were taking their baggage from the boat._

_"Oh..hehe, I...yeah. Nah, I'm fine," Po got on __his feet slowly. "See?I wasn't tired..I was just humm...training myyy...hopeless mental condition aaat...hopeless situations." He finished smiling nervously while scratching the back of his head. Mei Ling almost laughed for a moment but she was able to contain herself._

_"Well, that's good. I guess. Then we better move on, we'll reach the valley only at the end of the day." _

_"What?We need to walk that much yet?" Complained Po with extreme frustration. Mei Ling smiled. _

_"Strange. How did you reach Gongmen City after all?" _

_"By foot and boat. But mostly boat." Replied Po quickly._

_"Alright but even so you walked a bit, didn't you?" She asked while adjusting the rope tied to her bag._

_"Hum..er...I..did..had..some help." _

_"Huh?" _

_"Crane...he...gave me some...lifts..hehe, you know. Team work and all that stuff."_

**End flashback- **

It wasn't a surprise for Crane(and Mei Ling too) that he had to give Po a hand(or wings) on few(many) occasions. The cliff would be one of the most painful experiences for the rest of his life. The waterfowl didn't know what happened of worst. The fact that he carried almost a ton for over 3 minutes without a break or Shen appointing his lack of muscles as a reason of why he was so weak and skinny and couldn't handle to carry such weight in such short time.

Before Crane could relieve his frustration over any of them Master Shifu was already ordering them to keep moving. He also said that they would rest as much as they want if they reach the valley soon. Of course that this cheered everyone up. It was weekend and probably Shifu would give that time for them to rest quite well. It has been a long time since they got breaks for anything and probably this last mission made they deserve it.

Of course that while keep moving forward what almost everybody had in mind was what they would do with their free time. Crane already knew what was going to be first. They would wake up really late tomorrow. There was no better way to rest than taking a good sleep. Of course that there were other things but sleeping was the best and free solution for anything that could let them extremely tired.

Just when Crane moved his left wing to adjust his hat again he felt a sharp pain coming from it. He winced and stopped on his tracks. Since he was the one closing the line nobody saw him staying behind. The avian tried to move his wing up just like before and he felt the pain again. Crane frowned. This wasn't normal. He never felt pain for no reason. He just stretched his wing and the same pain came over again.

The avian realized that it was his muscle that it was hurting. Probably something caused by the hit he took from the cannon back at the tower. At least Crane hoped it would be something related to it. He would have asked Mantis for a treatment but since they would get free time he didn't want to bother anyone for now.

Noticing that he was getting distant from the group he run to catch up with them. Flying probably wasn't an option since his wing was at bad condition.

After few hours they finally reach the outskirts of the Valley of Peace. It was possible to see the Jade Palace at distance. The sunset made the view even greater.

"Can't wait to see my dad again!" Po said with happiness. "Imagine what his face will be like when I tell the awesome adventure we had and how we def-

"Po." Interrupted Tigress.

Po looked at her. The female feline stared at him then her eyes moved to the side as if she was trying to show something. The panda was confused at first but he understood when he realized that she was indicating the peacock right next to them. Shen was watching Po extremely carefully. His eyes seemed cold and murdering. The panda gulped.

"Er...how we defended the citizens of Gongmen with bravery and honor!" Finished the panda hoping that the peacock had fallen for that.

"And probably how you defeated me and humiliated me." Said Shen with a venomous voice.

"Yeah, that too," Replied Po without thinking. Tigress face palmed. "So I'll met with you guys upstairs soon, I'm going to talk with my dad."

While the panda left Shen stared at shock as if he saw a ghost.

"Wait!His dad?How's that possible?"

Everyone looked at the peacock. Tigress stood right in front of him.

"What do you mean with that?" Her voice become rigid and severe. Her eyes were watching him as a predator would look at his prey.

_"Oh, no!"_ Crane knew he had to do something or this all could end right here and pretty badly.

Before Shen could reply Crane went to his side placing his right wing over Shen's beak to shut the other from saying anything stupid.

"He doesn't mean anything, really. He just still can't believe that a goose is Po's father." Explained Crane while making an effort to keep Shen under his grip. Tigress raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" She asked skeptically. Crane had to intensify his hold on the peacock because he almost showed clear signs of surprise when Crane spoke about Po's father being a goose.

"Yeah, but..who wasn't surprised with it, right?"

Tigress still eyed the crane suspiciously but she didn't make any further questions and continued her path to the palace. Crane sighed after the rest of the group followed her and Master Shifu. He released the peacock.

"Are you insane?I nearly didn't have any air to breathe you sick twisted bird!" Snapped the peacock furiously.

"You're the one who's insane. You almost revealed that it was you who killed Po's parents. If you had done that Tigress and probably some of the others would have made you in pieces right here. Shen, don't be crazy!I'm saying that because she was adopted and if she finds out that you're the responsible for what happened with Po you're death. If I try to save you she'll kill me too. I saved your life...but you're not worth dying for."

If Shen could he wouldn't have paid attention at all but still it was good to know that he should avoid saying anything related with the panda's parents or he would be done for.

"I'm not worth dying for? So why did you saved me?" Asked the peacock with a smirk.

"Because you're the one who could die."

The silence that follows was incredible intense. Crane's brown eyes stared deeply at the red eyes of the peacock. Shen really didn't understand what the Crane said. The peacock saw many meanings to that phrase and couldn't find an answer for that.

"We better keep moving, it's getting dark." The waterfowl lowered his hat to cover his eyes and went to catch with the rest of the Five. Shen hesitated for a moment before following after the crane. He was making an effort to figure it out what the other bird tried to insinuate.

Shen stopped death at his tracks when he saw the huge staircase that they would have to go through. Crane saw him at the feet of the stairs and approached the peacock to check on him.

"What's wrong?" Asked Crane while looking around to check if they were alone. Shen frowned.

"What the heck is this?Look the size of this stair!You walk by this way everyday?" The peacock was clearly shocked.

"Well...me not that much since I can fly," Responded the taller avian. Shen didn't like much of the answer, especially because peacocks couldn't quite fly."And we don't get down to the village much anyway."

"What?So you people sleep up there?" Shen now liked much of that. The place was very isolated in the top of the mountain, if anything happened up there...

"Yeah, since we got here. We're Shifu's students after all." The Crane responded smiling a bit. It seemed that Shen was starting to enjoy the idea of staying in the palace.

The peacock stared silently at the crane studying him.

"But..you're a master. How come that you're a student?"

The question made Crane a bit confuse.

"Hum..well, he teach us moves that we still don't know and-

"Hang on!You're a crane, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you art is the Fujian White Crane, right?"

"Correct."

"Your master is a crane?"

"No, wh-

"Then how can your master be sure of everything you can do with a style that applies especially to your species and not his?"

"What?Shen..most of things that I do is Master Shifu who taught me." Crane seemed confident of his master's experience on his fighting style.

"But I doubt he taught you to do special things...like your air kinetic moves." The peacock smiled mischievously. Crane went silent for a moment.

"How do you know?" The waterfowl asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Because when I learned kung fu my master never taught me most of the things I can do now. Many things that I learned from him always keeped me close to a basic. In the other hand your friend Po apparently learned more than he would be capable of. Your master told him how to do such moves...but why not to you?Or any of your friends?"

Crane took a step back. Shen was trying to throw the crane against the wall.

"Because Po is the Dragon Warrior, that's why." Responded Crane on a challenging way. The peacock raised an eye brown.

"Really?That's why?Then you're telling me that you're too weak to do the same as he did?"

Crane opened his beak slowly feeling extremely undignified. But then he closed it again recognizing part of the truth in the peacock's words.

"I knew it. You're just an ordinary bird after all." The peacock went upstairs leaving the humiliated Crane alone with his own thoughts.

_'Soon you'll realize that you can be much more bird. You just need to be on the right side.' _

After an hour the Five were at their rooms waiting for Po to return and cook the dinner. They wanted to sleep early to wake up not too late for the day free tomorrow. Shifu was already worried if Crane would really make his promise valuable since Lord Shen had to walk for half an hour in the palace studding everything without having Crane to guide him. For some reason the bird only showed up later than the rest of them. He didn't explain why but only excused himself for being late.

Crane quickly helped Shen to get to know the place. The peacock seemed very interested in the Hall of Heroes. But Crane knew that what really called his attention were the scrolls with vital information and the weapons present in the room. The rest pretty much didn't concern the peacock at all. Well, except the bath house. When the peacock heard the words 'hot' and 'springs' he surely got much more excited.

Crane tried to contain a laugh. Shen's face when happy for some reason made Crane feel really...different. Honestly he didn't know why. It was similar to the times when Mei Ling smiled at him for no real reason and that would just make his legs felt like they were bamboos.

But with Shen...it just made him happy too. It was good to see that the peacock had a good side after all. Crane was already thinking that nothing than maliciousness was around the peacock's mind.

"Hey, Crane!I'm back!" Crane turned around to see Po coming at him. Shen tried to find a place where the panda wouldn't take notice of him but no avail." Hey Shen, all good?" The peacock remained silent."Nice, all good then!I'm going to make the dinner, I already called the others, are you guys coming?"

Crane nodded. "Sure, I'll be there..I don't know about Shen."

"Can't you ask him to come along?It would be awesome to have him having dinner with us!I have so many things to tell about." Po was clearly anxious.

"I'm not sure if he'll want to, besides I still don't know wh-

"I'M STILL HERE!WOULD YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT ME WHEN I'M RIGHT BESIDES YOU?"

Crane and Po jumped. They actually forgot about the peacock that was next to them.

"Sorry, so...are you coming?" Asked Crane looking down at the peacock. Shen sighed.

"Let me think of it...oh yes, no!"

Po was confused.

"That was a no or a yes?"

"It was a yes for a no."

"So it was a 'no, of course I'll'?"

"No, it was a 'never!'"

"Oh...then..no?"

Shen was getting at the limit of his nerves. Crane was unsure of what to do. Should he make Po get out of the hall or wonder if Shen would make better at the dining table(with Mantis and Monkey) than here with Po.

"Alright, see you guys later!" Po said running away to the kitchen. Shen felt relieved. That panda was too much for his own mental sanity.

Few seconds later Crane saw Shifu passing by in the hall.

"Master Shifu." Called Crane coming towards his master. The red panda stopped to attend his call.

"Yes Crane?" Responded Shifu formally.

"Hum..you didn't told yet where Shen will be sleeping." Crane said while watching the peacock leaving for the kitchen. Shen already knew where everything was located in the palace after paying very good attention during his 'tour'.

"Really?Well, since Mei Ling it's using the last room available I think that it means that he'll have to share the room with one of you. But since he's under your responsibility nothing more fair than him to sleep in your room."

"Oh..alright then.." That was all that Crane could said in response. Shifu left with a chuckle.

It only could be a bad joke. It has to be. Shen sleeping in Crane's room?The waterfowl was lost at words and felt extremely frustrated. He did something wrong to deserve this?

Crane went to the kitchen only to find a very cold atmosphere present in there. Shen was standing over Po in a threatening position while everyone else was surrounding him ready to attack. Po was saying excuses without stopping. Only when Crane saw Shen covered with a familiar liquid he understood what happened.

Po must have accidentally dropped a bow of noddle soap over Shen and the peacock just lost his nerves. Now everyone was waiting for the peacock to hurt Po then they would kill Shen for sure.

_'Maybe I deserve this after_ all.'

**14 minutes later... **

"That stupid panda!As if my feathers didn't have enough marks!" Shen was extremely furious. Crane never had such a bad time like what happened just few minutes ago. To take Shen off Po and calm down everyone else just took Crane at his limit. The bird was exhausted and he only wanted to sleep but with Shen smelling soap it would be difficult.

"Alright...I'll take you to the bath house. You really need a bath."

**A/N: If someone complains that it was short I'll...give a damn about it.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Well, here's the new chapter..this one was tough and the internet connection screwed with me a lot on this one. **

**Huntress4455;**

Yes, I do intend to do that but I can't rush it. I need to create the environments to make that possible and things need to have a logical sequence of behaviors so it will be slow...but it will happen.

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

Well, I'm trying to update more quickly since I'm delayed with the updates. Promises are promises after all. Yeah, you had a nice idea back there, I really appreciate it. Well, that part...If I was Shen and Crane says one such thing to me I really wouldn't care(Shen probably heard that before). And you can't blame Crane since Shen sometimes get him into the nerves and the bird has his right to be harsh one time or other.

**Blackshadowbutterflys;**

Yeah, Shen is too smart and I think it would be great to see what he would do in a battle of minds.(Instead of a kung fu fight)

**Kidsrule;**

Like I said, just read the first chapter. You probably did that already.

**Shen's Follower**;

Honestly I had to make Po funny. It's the way he's after all. But I never though I had the skill to do so...I don't know, need to wait more to see how I deal with him, he's no easy to get In-character..but who is, right?I do plan to do that pairing too...I think that the only character that lost such approximation of romanticism is Monkey, can't really think of someone that really connects with him.

**WFeathers;**

Well, I think we have a good idea of what might be..or maybe not. :P

**Alpha Tiger;**

Thanks a lot!I took as inspiration two scenes.

1- The first movie were Po is trying to see who will be the Dragon Warrior but having to went up the huge stairs first and after what seemed hours he only manage to pass up about two dozens of degrees.

2-When he runs out with the Five through the mountains to stop Lord Shen but getting tired right after passing behind a large rock even if he started to run just few seconds ago.

There are few minor scenes but those were the ones who really made everyone laugh.

**Charlie_B_Barkin;**

Thanks Charles, sorry for my overreaction back there. That scared the hell out of me.

**Holoispartan23;**

Good to have you back man, I missed you a lot. I'm glad you liked of the chapters!

**DirectSourceAnim;**

Can't you make a shorter nickname?XD Nah, just kidding. Wow...really?There are really good ones and better than mine out there.

**Shifufanatic;**

I was a bit confused since some words got eaten, that's happening a lot lately. FF always have something to surprise us...but I got your point and I'm sure that there'll be lots of those moments, hehehehhe.

**Unrealistic23;**

I don't think that I have talent on anything, just dedication. That's all I need but thanks anyway!

**Carzynuts;**

Yeah, I think you got my point, that's what I think too.

**ShootingStar;**

Hehhe, good that he likes that at least otherwise I don't know what he possibly would like.

**strange dude;**

Mind games, right?Yeah, I not really sure but I think that I'm the first one to take that on such a superficial way. Who knows...

**XdIAZ;**

People said that a lot..I'm starting to think I am. :p

**Anonymosrules;**

Wow...that was truly meaningful. Thank you.

*****Crane let out a long relaxed sigh as he soaked in the warm water of the hot spring. Although rarely used, the open air bath house was, in his personal opinion at least, a genius idea of Master Oogway. He and the other members of the Furious Five requested permission to build it when they were all still in their teens and the old turtle had agreed rather passionately. He remembered a few years ago, digging the springs with a shovel along with Monkey, while Mantis and Tigress laid down bricks and tiles. Viper opted to provide ambient decorations for the place, well-placed lanterns and towel racks being her handiwork. There was even an actual entrance with two doors, one leading to the women's side and the other to the men's side.

It was one of his rare indulgences to come every so often to this place and just relax and unwind. More than once, after a particularly stressful day, he would duck his head under the hot water and scream his head off.

The fiasco earlier that night had driven him to belt out his most anguished wail in the safety of the hot spring, leaving his throat a bit hoarse now.*****

The only problem was that he wasn't alone this time.

"I can't see a damn thing," Complained Shen while trying to find a place to rest his robe. Crane rolled his eyes."And you still own me a decent robe bird!"

The warm fog created by the heat of the water was so dense that Shen got fooled by it. It was a good thing that the fog was dense, Crane had no wish to see how Shen would look like when naked. A loud splash warned Crane that the peacock had just fell inside the water. The waterfowl laughed a bit before Shen emerged from under the water cursing everything he could think of at the moment including Crane.

"You...why you just don't rest at the edge just a bit and try to clear your mind of all the problematic things that are into it right now?" Suggested the avian quite gently.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Retorted Shen. Crane sighed.

"Fine, I'll leave you alone." The taller avian said sitting at the other edge of the spring and closing his eyes. Shen have been watching while the crane slowly moved away from him._ 'Stupid, I know what to do to relax. I don't need advice.'_

"I was thinking..." Said Crane all of sudden at the distance. Shen couldn't see him beyond the fog so only the waterfowl's voice was a sign that he was still present."..when you get better and all your wounds heal. Master Shifu will ask you to choose someone to train you, normally he wouldn't ask but I guess he'll make an exception with you. So probl-

"WHAT?What do you mean with training?" The peacock wasn't expecting this at all. He looked around waiting for Crane's reply to come.

"We told you before. You would come to the palace and train under us." Crane's voice was a bit more firm now.

"Nonsense!I don't need to train, I can fight better than all of you!" Shen's breath was faster now. He was feeling anxious with that conversation.

"If you want to stay here or you train with us or Shifu will kick you to Chor-Gom or even worse!" Crane was getting angry now. He wouldn't admit the peacock to go that far. If Shen wanted to stay he would have to do as they say or he would get the consequences.

"Oh yeah?And what could be worse?" Mocked Shen with extreme annoyance.

"Death." Responded Crane simply. The peacock laughed a bit.

"My,my..are you going to kill me if I don't comply?"

"No...the emperor of China will."

Shen felt his spine shake tremendously. His eyes revealed terror.

_'It can't be true.'_

"Wait!..you people...won't..send me to him..will you?" His voice was weakening considerably. Crane smiled a bit but he was glad Shen couldn't see it. He finally found a way to indulge some fear in the peacock.

"If you behave properly..."

Now Shen had no choice. If he did something wrong he would be sent to the emperor, and that would mean a public execution. He would be decapitated(Shen placed a wing around his neck.) or he would be pierced by thousands of arrows.

"What guarantees do I have to you'll not abuse of your position?" Asked Shen trying to find a way to argue with that.

"Because I'm one of the Furious Five?" Crane's response let Shen without nothing else to think of it anymore. That was a good point after all, being a Furious Five member just mean that he was a person of thrust, it couldn't be denied.

"So be it...but I want my robe!"

Crane seriously felt annoyed with the stubbornness of Shen about a damn robe. But the waterfowl knew that Shen would be insisting on it for ages unless he buy one, a decent one.

"Is a robe more important than your life?" Asked Crane trying to understand why the peacock gave so much importance to that.

"Don't try to fool me bird!It's none of your business!" Shen wasn't going to let Crane understand his reasons.

"Alright...but if I'm the one who's going to buy it shouldn't I have a good reason for doing it so?" Crane smiled already thinking he anchieved a victory on the argument.

"No." Shen's quick and dry answer blow away Crane's smile. The peacock was really something.

"Don't you think that there are more important things than a robe?"

"Whatever!" Replied Shen jumping off of the spring and reaching towards his old robe.

"Aarrgghh!" Screamed Crane all of sudden throwing his own head under the hot water. Shen watched this weird behavior with an odd look but decided to ignore the other avian. He got dressed and left the bath house without looking behind.

While so Crane was shaking his head furiously under the hot water.

_'Garrgh!I just saw him naked!Now that image won't get out of my mind!Think Crane, think!Flowers!Bamboos!Trees!Mountains!Staffs!Rocks!Spears!..Shen...ARRRGGHHHHHHH!'_

It was easy to say that Crane had his head under the hot water and was screaming his head off...again.

**Meanwhile...**

Mei Ling was at her new room with Tigress. Both of them were discussing about the routines on the palace. Since Crane had disappeared with Shen the female tiger resolved to help her new comrade to adapt to their routine.

For the first time Tigress actually saw someone that had something in familiar with her. Mei Ling impressed Tigress while telling about her adventures and teachings on her time at Yunnán. The female mountain cat proved to be extremely wise and very polite during her speeches. It was unusual to see a women like her with such formality and confidence, especially when the business was kung fu.

"So...you really learned that much techniques?" Asked Tigress while trying to hide her emotions. She really didn't want to show to Mei Ling that she was amazed with the cat. Tigress was always considerate to be the strongest of the Five and hard to be matched equally in a fight.

Tigress knew of what she was capable of and her confidence on her own strength and skills always proved to be a great ally during her fights. Now for the first time she was wondering if her skills were enough to match with this cat.

Having learned so many dangerous, rare and forgotten 'kung fu' moves made this feline cat have the potential of a legend. Probably she still couldn't match Master Shifu but she wasn't far from being at his level.

_'This girl must have some flaws...she can't be that all.'_ Tigress disliked the idea of the perfect warrior. Of course that nothing was perfect, as Master Oogway told many times before, but this woman...she was far much more than just a pretty face.

_'Crane said that she was the top student, huh?Also he said that he never was able to won her on a match, not even sustain her attacks for a long period without suffering greatly. Where she learned so much?A academy in the middle of nowhere can't really provide such lessons.'_

"So...Tigress, how many scrolls you managed to anchieve so far?" Asked Mei Ling way too softly. The female tiger raised an eyebrow wondering if she should answer that.

"So far six hundred and eighty-nine." Responded Tigres sternly.

"Wow, a lot then...nice. And what about Po?"

Tigress eyes went wide. Why Po mattered at all? There was something she was trying to discover or use to her own personal gain?

"Well, I'm not really sure. I guess...seven."

Mei Ling's smiling face turned to one of disappointment. She was shocked to find out that the Dragon Warrior had anchieve so little in terms of knowledge in kung fu and even so was able to defeat Tai Lung and Lord Shen without counting several other enemies.

"But...why only so few?" Asked the cat trying to understand the situation.

Tigress shrugged.

"I don't know..but I really don't think that the number of scrolls means how strong a kung fu warrior is. How many you have anyway?" Asked the tiger trying to make the other feline uncomfortable. Instead of showing embarrassment she opened a great smile and replied sweetly.

"None, but as you said...that really doesn't mean much since I'm already strong without such knowledge, right?"

_'DAMN!She is good!'_

**Meanwhile...**

Shen reached inside Crane's room and went directly to the bed that was placed by the servants of the palace, Shifu had ordered them to do so.

The peacock only wanted to sleep. He was already worried with what would happen tomorrow, for the first time ever...he was afraid of the next day.

Before he could rest over his bed the door of the room opened slightly.

"Hey Cr..oh, hi there," It was Viper. "You saw Crane?"

The peacock grunted. "No, I didn't saw him, why?"_ 'Why did I asked why?'_ Thought Shen right after.

"For nothing. Well, good night." She said leaving with some hurry.

"Goo..."_ 'What the hell I'm doing?Good night?Since when?'_

Crane returned ten minutes later. The waterfowl seemed unbalanced and was muttering with himself. It was clear to the peacock that the crane was disturbed.

"Are you al..." _'IM GETTING INSANE!'_

Crane eyed Shen with fear clear in his eyes. That reaction scared Shen too. The peacock actually though that the waterfowl was driving mad.

"No no no!I just...need to clear my mind, that's all." Responded Crane feeling his throat a bit dry. Unexpectedly the avian didn't realize that Shen made a very awkward question, especially because it was Shen who made it.

"Then you should go back to the bath hous-

"NO!I mean...no, it's not that what I need, just some sleep will be good enough."

Crane got himself into his sleeping position. Shen truly wasn't expecting that reaction and that the crane wasn't concerned about sleeping in the same room with the peacock at all. Before any of the two could fall asleep Po showed up at the door with a worried expression.

"Crane!We got a problem!WAKE UP!" The panda though that Crane was sleeping already and slapped the bird few times to awake him. The only problem was that Crane was still conscious and those slaps were quite painful.

"OW!He-OW!Wh-ARGH!Po, STOP!I'm awake!" Crane screamed desperately trying to avoid more slaps.

"Oh..so sorry!I didn't mean to hurt you!" Crane made a strange noise. Probably he tried to chuckle but his face was still hurting a lot.

"I know you didn't..even so..never mind. What's wrong?"

"Follow me quick!Hum..maybe Shen should too.." Suggested the panda timidly. The peacock stared coldly at them.

"Why should I?" Asked Shen. He wasn't going to be concerned or even disturbed about their personal matters.

"You don't have to!Po let's go!We're just wasting time!" Said Crane leaving the room with the panda.

**33 minutes later...**

Crane returned to his room quietly. The avian was carrying a very serious expression on his face. When he saw the peacock sleeping on the bed next to the window his expression softened a bit.

"So you're back?" Said a sinister voice coming from the direction were Crane was staring at. The waterfowl gasped since he wasn't expecting to Shen still be awake.

"Hum..yes, I did. You...was waiting for me?" Crane almost let a grin come out of his beak but Shen quickly avoided that.

"Kind of, just making sure that you would be back before someone else entered the room and tried to stab me while I'm sleeping. But now that you're here you will be the first target instead."

"Heh?" _'Ok, this guy need some vacations, he is mentally disturbed.' _

"Not that I care but..why all the noise few minutes ago?" The peacock actually was curious but he didn't want to let the other be aware of it. Crane sighed deeply.

"Some scrolls were stolen from the Hall of Heroes." Said Crane with a hint of sadness.

"And you don't know who it was?" Said Shen already guessing what would be the outcome.

"Actually we do know...it was FengHuang."

"FengHuang?..never heard of before."

"I wonder why not...she's a crazy bird like you."

That comment almost throw Shen out of his 'peaceful' state. The peacock although was able to sustain the offense.

"Humf..." Was all that Shen said back.

"Po, Tigress and Viper left to deal with the matter. I hope they don't get into trouble. FengHuang it's no easy picking. Well we'll know by morning, good night."

"Good ni.." _'NOT AGAIN!' _

Crane froze. He turned around to face the other avian. Much to the waterfowl's shock he saw Lord Shen actually blushing and trying to look at anything else that not the other avian. Crane smiled gently at the peacock. While so Shen unintentionally eyed the crane. The smile he saw he was receiving from the crane made him feel that odd sensation again. The peacock wanted to know what this bird had of especially after all and why that was affecting him on such strange way.

"Just sleep already you fool!" Snapped Shen turning around to face the wall instead. Crane let a soft laugh came out of him before placing his head under his wing.

There was hope for Shen after all.

**A/N:Well, I got a lot of issues with the internet that this chapter was remade 2 times in one day. Kinda crazy..it wasn't what I originally had in mind but...oh well. I improved some parts.**

***This part wasn't made by me.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Warning!This chapter may contain M rated scenes.(For those who have 'creative' minds) Oh well, to the replies. **

**Shen's follower;**

Honestly I laughed hard at that but I think that Charlie has a point so I won't say much about it. Even so I'm not a fan of yaoi but that doesn't mean that I have anything against it. You want my sincerity?...I prefer any kind of yaoi that does not involve humans.

**Blackshadowbutterflys;**

...I'm sure of it...hehehehe.

**Huntress4455;**

I must admit that I wasn't expecting it to be that funny. Honestly I didn't make an effort for it to be that way. I really saw it as a simple chapter but surely the beginning was made with intention of humor. The rest...not really. Thanks a lot. About the number of chapters...I have no idea. But I'm pretty sure that not less than thirty.

**Charlie ;**

Thanks Charles, just don't rush over the others, ok?

**kidsrule;**

As I said to Huntress I was amazed that so many people saw this chapter as the funniest...I didn't try that hard after all.

**XdIAZ;**

Of course not!I want you all to live to be able to read the next chapters.

**Unilever;**

I'm really thankful for your reviews and I would like to welcome you to the story. That really means a lot!

**Anonymosrules;**

:P Thanks!And..no, it will keep set on friendship but humor is always included in KFP.

**Alpha tiger;**

Tigress maybe feel jealous about Mei Ling but only time will tell.

**White Tiger**;

Another Tiger?Oh well...I would feel like an A- if I made this only to kill Shen in the end!(Or middle)

**Raccon Girl;**

Thank you very much for reviewing!And about your question...hum...I really did like FengHuang somehow. Honestly she was the most interesting villain. But I really will be careful about LoA and their characters. The last thing I need is people asking me to put Song in this. Maybe I do or maybe not. That will depend.

**Guest(The last guest reviewer);**

First...why the hell your nickname is guest?You can change that!

Second...isn't "taught"?I kinda knew that but for some reason I was at doubt and since english is not my first language excuse me for some mistakes.

_Crane opened his eyes slowly, what he saw at the moment confused him. There was nothing but only a dense fog and a pure white floor. The waterfowl took few steps forward cautiously. Where was he?He never saw anything like this place before._

_Crane was walking for few minutes until he finally saw something in that blindly white place. It wasn't very large or even tall. When the waterfowl got closer he realized that it was a bed. Not an ordinary bed at all, it was covered with very expensive blankets and pillars. All of them were white but the pillars were red._

_'So you finally came...' Said a voice that seemed distant. Crane turned around quickly only to find out that Shen was right near him. The peacock was using pure white robes and his ruby eyes were completely calling the waterfowl's attention. They weren't cold or threatening, they were filled with softness and sympathy._

_Shen got closer to him opening his wings carefully and gesturing to Crane and then to the bed._

_'We shouldn't keep ourselves waiting anymore...should we?'_

_Crane tried to respond negatively to that but something was keeping him shut, it was like some strange force that was surrounding him and holding his actions. Much to his horror he felt his own body moving towards the bed along with the peacock that kept smiling sweetly at him._

_Crane tried to push himself out of the strange source of energy that was making him do things that he didn't want to. Much to his desesperation that was impossible to be done._

_He laid down over the bed with Shen and the peacock start caressing Crane's neck._

_'Now now...do you wanna go first?'_

**Meanwhile... **

Mr. Ping was up early in the morning at his Noodle Shop already thinking about what would he do for the menu of the weekend. He was really happy since his son had come back from his long voyage to the unknown. Much to the goose's surprise Po explained what happened after they accomplished their mission. It wasn't necessary to say that he was extremely worried with the fact that his son and his enemy were sleeping so close even after everything that happened in the last 6 days. Even being nervous about it the goose couldn't help but feel better knowing that Po was back to his home. He already gave a suggestion to his son to invite his friends to dinner at his restaurant. Po as expected agreed.

"Hum...what will be for lunch today?" Asked Mr. Ping to himself while organizing the tables."Vegetable fried rice?Or Noodles?**(A/N:As usual...) **

Mr. Ping was at doubt so he resolved to let someone else decide for him. He closed his eyes and placed his wings together in front of his beak

"Oh mighty Jade Emperor, sorry for disturbing you but I must know...what I must serve for launch today?"

...,...,...

"Should be noodles?"

...,,...,,...

"Should be vegetable fried rice?"

.._.*distant scream*Nnnnooooooooooooo..."..._

"Ah, great!It's noodles then!Thank you for your time. It's so good when the gods hear our prays sometimes."

**Meanwhile... **

Mantis, Monkey and Mei Ling came out of their rooms with incredible speed. Everyone was carrying terrified expressions.

"What the hell was that?Who's screaming?" Inquired Mantis loudly looking around frenetically.

"I don't now man but that was the scariest scream I've ever heard on my life!" Replied Monkey also trying to figure out where the scary noise came from.

"Maybe w-

Mei Ling was about to make a suggestion but then Crane's room door opened quite abruptly and Shen came out of it looking extremely annoyed. Everyone stared at him with wondering looks.

"When your crazy friend decides to take his medicine I'll think about sleeping here again," The peacock informed more gently than they would expect. Right after that Shen left the hall only having to avoid Master Shifu that was standing still at the entry. The red panda ignored the peacock and went directly to talk with his students.

"What's the meaning of all this noise?I said that you all have a free weekend, so why are you all awake this early?" Shifu was clearly upset.

Before anyone could explain anything Mei Ling went inside Crane's room only to find her avian friend shaking and breathing heavily.

"Jien!What happened?Are you alright?" She asked surprised to see the bird at this state. Crane apparently didn't listen to her, he only stared forward. "Jien?Jien!...CRANE!"

The bird was snapped out of his trance. He stared up at her.

"Ling?It's you?I'm...I'm awake?" The mountain cat was really worried now.

"Jien, what happened with you?Shen did something with you?"

"YES!I mean, no!..he didn't do anything...for real." Crane's voice was extremely tense. Mei Ling only stared. Everyone else was at Crane's door checking to see if their friend was alright.

"For real?What do you mean?" Asked Monkey that was a bit worried about the situation. Crane tried to go up on his feet but it was necessary to Mei Ling help him doing it so.

"It's nothing...it was just a bad dream, that's all." The avian tried to smile but for some reason he forgot how.

"A bad dream?Wow, what happened?A fish eat you?" Joked Mantis while Monkey made an effort to hold his laughter. Mei Ling frowned at them.

"Haha, very ironic isn't it?" Replied Crane sarcastically while placing his straw hat over his head." Whatever, sorry for awakening you all. I didn't mean...where's Shen?" The avian asked noticing that the peacock was missing.

"Don't worry, he left. He wasn't happy at all." Said the mountain cat rolling her eyes.

"Well, since everything seems fine I'll be on my way now." Informed Master Shifu leaving the hall.

"See you later Master Shifu. What were you saying about Shen?" Asked Mantis staring back at Mei Ling. "Oh right!Yeah, hard to believe that a guy like him can be so bothered by someone else screaming, he does that a lot."

"Anyway, who's ready for breakfast?" Asked Monkey while directing himself to the kitchen.

"But...Po's the one who does the breakfast. And since he got out with Tigress and Viper we- Started Mantis but Mei Ling interrupted him.

"We can pass one day without Po cooking anything Mantis. I think that Po hasn't been here since you guys started living in the palace so you probably had to turn around yourselves. You're getting used with Po cooking. You shouldn't."

"Turning around...yeah, fine. Then who'll cook then?" Asked Mantis with a hint of sarcasm since they were used to a personal chef hired by Shifu. But since Po became the Dragon Warrior the chef wasn't necessary anymore and he left a long time ago.

"I can do it." Mei Ling said looking at the two from Crane's door.

"You?" Asked Monkey with great disbelief. "You know how to cook?"

"Of course I do. I'm a woman after all." The mountain cat said as if it was logical.

Monkey and Mantis eyed each other but just shrugged. Nevertheless they were glad about it and invited Mei Ling to come along. The group left leaving Crane behind with an incredulous expression.

"Hum...guys? What about me?" The avian asked after they left the hall. The avian stared silently for few seconds at the entry with some disappointment. Finally he decided to follow then but without any hurry. Right after he left the hall he heard a familiar voice.

"You apparently got used to be ignored. I was expecting a different reaction."

Crane turned around to see Shen standing still at the wall watching the run rising from the window next to him.

"What do you want?" Asked Crane with no intention of dealing with the peacock so soon. The albino bird turned his head slowly at Crane's direction.

"I want to make a question."

A deep moment of silence followed Shen's words. Crane was at doubt but even so he couldn't help but wonder what could it be.

"Go on." Shen smiled briefly.

"Your dream...I was in it, wasn't?"

Crane's terrified expression was taken as a confirmation by Shen.

"I see...what was the dream about?"

'I-It doesn't matter." Replied Crane quickly avoiding to look at Shen in the eyes. The peacock chuckled.

"So be it."

Shen walked away leaving Crane feeling uneasy. The waterfowl spend more twenty minutes in the same place before going to the kitchen to join the others. After reaching the kitchen Crane found an unexpected scene. Mei Ling making the breakfast while Monkey and Mantis were along with Shen making jokes about the waterfowl, Tigress and Po.

For a serious moment Crane was sure that he was dreaming again. Mei Ling cooking?Since when?Mantis and Monkey making(informal)jokes about the waterfowl and with Shen appreciating them. The only reason for Crane to believe that he was actually dreaming was the fact that Shen seemed_ genuinely_ happy.

Shen's happy expression was fascinating. Crane never that side of Shen before and honestly the reason of why he was happy was even more of a concern than anything. Normally you wouldn't expect to see a person that could understand Monkey and Mantis humor, especially since most of the things they would say about someone else would be taken as offensive and quite disrespectful. Maybe that's why Shen was liking of it, it was insulting but in a more friendly way.

"Hey Crane!Come in!We're just talking about you." Called Mantis from the wooden table. The waterfowl went to table and took a seat next to Mantis. "So I was talking with our buddy Shen about our day out and few other things."

"Really?" Asked Crane feeling a great shock by hearing Mantis calling Shen by buddy already. _'Maybe they can get along better than I could expect.'_

"Yeah, since there's only five of us in the palace today why we don't hang out together? I heard that some international commercialization travelers will be passing by in the village so we could check what they have of good." The bug was clearly excited with the possible variation of items that would be present.

"Maybe I ca-

Crane was interrupted when a large knife came flying out of nowhere and stabbed his straw hat directly to the wall. The bird squawked and fell to the floor. Mei Ling went to his side looking extremely horrified.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Jien!I drop that out by accident! I should have held it better." The mountain cat tried to apologize while helping her friend to get up. Crane was still a bit taken aback by the unexpected and accidental attack.

"I-It's..alright. I...that was close. What happened?The breakfast was alive?Just...please don't do that again." Pleaded the avian while recovering his breath. Mei Ling smiled nervously.

"I'm sorry. It was quite some time since I last used a knife to...cook."

In the mean time Shen, Mantis and Monkey were also taken by surprise but soon they started to laugh. Even Shen was laughing hardly much to Crane's disbelief and concern.

_'I knew it, he has a dark humor.'_ Though Crane while watching Shen laughing without any shame of it. Crane also couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by seeing Shen laughing at his near death experience that way.

"I guess I could use of some help on the cooking," Said Mei Ling on an attempt to lighten the situation. "Do you mind Monkey?"

"Hehehe, no problem." The simian went to help the feline to do the breakfast and make sure that no further incidents would happen.

Crane went to retrieve his hat and much to his shock the hat was nearly cut in two pieces with only a tiny tip holding them together.

Crane stared for what seemed ages at one of the most valuable and precious things that he had in this life that was now destroyed. Mei Ling gave him that hat, he used it for years proudly and the hat became part of his personality. It wasn't just a simple straw hat, it was a symbol of dedication to a entire life in which he attained confidence, acquired skills and earned friendships. Without that hat...he felt meaningless.

It was ironic that it was Mei Ling the one who gave him the hat and in the end the one who destroyed. Of course that it was an accident but the mountain cat had no idea of how much importance that hat gained from Crane along the years.

The waterfowl felt tears in his eyes and not wanting the others to see him like this he left the kitchen and went to his room. Shen was the only one who saw him leaving all of sudden.

The peacock wondered why the crane just fled. Even if he really didn't bother deep inside something told him to check on the other avian. It was a fact without precedents for Shen to be laughing at two idiots and their jokes but it was even more strange for him to be_ caring_ about someone else. Much against his nature the peacock left while Mantis had joined Monkey, the simian and the feline cat were taking a lot of time to make a simple breakfast.

Shen reached Crane's room only to find the taller avian laying down on the floor with his back against the wall. Crane stared up only to see Shen giving him a questioning expression.

"Is...something wrong?" Asked Crane. The peacock raised an eyebrow.

"I should be the one asking that." Replied Shen smoothly. The peacock entered the room and stood still in front of the crane.

"Hum...and would you actually ask one such thing?"

_'Good point'_ "No, not really." Admitted Shen looking to the other way. "But even so...what's the reason for you to just leave everyone?"

Crane slowly raised the straw hat that was nearly in two pieces.

"I still don- Shen interrupted himself when he reminded of something that Crane told him few days ago.

**Flashback...**

_Crane took of his straw hat and let it over the table next to the bed._

_"Can you look it for me?I'm going sleep a little if you don't mind," He yawned while raising his right leg and placing his head under his left wing._

_Besides that the crane was underestimating the Lord by sleeping next to him thinking that nothing would happen Shen felt insulted with such request._

_"WHAT?Do I look a guard or something to look over a stupid hat?" Shen replied undignified. Crane removed his head under his wing to face Shen._

_"I'm not asking you to keep your eyes over it all night...just one time or other." The avian master said simply. Shen sighed heavily._

_"Fine!Why the hell that is so important to you anyway?" He asked with no real interest by the subject._

_"It was a gift... from an old friend." Responded Crane after three minutes of silence. Luckily Shen had enough patience to wait him to reply._

_"An old friend?Was this friend that important to you?" He asked kinda annoyed with the crane's concern over a simple hat._

_"I can say that...if it wasn't for her...I wouldn't be what I am today." The crane said with incredible simplicity as if he was stating the most obvious thing in the world._

**End Flashback. **

"I get it," Shen said after few moments of silence. "That precious hat of yours. That cat gave it to you wasn't it?" Crane nodded sadly.

"Yes...but now..it's gone." Shen sighed.

"Dumb idiot!Just fix it. Or you're too ignorant to be aware of such thing?" Shen apparently was angry with the other avian. Crane was taken by surprise.

"Huh?It can't be done, only having a new one and I don't want a new one." Crane replied hopelessly.

Without any of them taking notice Mei Ling was standing still at the door watching the conversation. The cat had succeed on her task and went to call Crane and Shen back. The loud noises coming from the room suggested her that she should wait a bit before showing up. But that didn't stop her from wondering what was happening and with her excellent stealth skills she managed to reach at the door like a ghost.

"Of course it can!WHAT?Are you just give up of everything just because someone cut your hat?Stop being ridiculous and act like a man and not a chicken!" Shen was clearly frustrated with the other avian.

"I don't understand. Why do you..

"Why do I care?Listen, if you're going to be my...my m...ma.._*cough*.._my_ teacher _I don't want a weakling as it!"

Crane(and Mei Ling) eyes went wide. The waterfowl stared at the peacock for few seconds.

"Me?You...you choose...me?" The peacock nodded. "But Master Shi-

"I already talked with him...and he agreed. Wasn't you who said that I could choose who I wanted to teach me?I choose you."

"A good choice I might say." Mei Ling finally let her presence to be noticed. Shen and Crane were stunned to see her there.

"Since when?" Asked Shen clearly annoyed.

"Depends...about me or the choice you made?" Asked the mountain cat playing with him.

"About you!" Replied Shen furiously. Mei Ling chuckled.

"Nine minutes at least. Oh and...breakfast is ready." The mountain cat left gracefully. Shen stared back at the crane.

"Your friend is hard to be taken nicely sometimes."

**A/N: Well...hum...that's it. Until next chapter. I...well...hum...yeah...hum...gotta go.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: oKAY, I'm updating sooner this time because of the Olympic Games and since I want to pass the whole day tomorrow watching it I'll let the chapter for you all already. **

**TheWhisperingWarrior, strange dude;**

The acoustic is really good! XD

**White Tiger;**

Well, thank you very much. But there's a lot to happen yet.

**Raccon Girl;**

Hheheh, thank you!

**Unrealistic23;**

Lol, yes indeed.

**XdIAZ;**

Thanks a lot!I'm glad you like it!

**Frenir;**

HAHAHhahah, I guess not.. :P

**Shooting Star;**

He does very much.

**DSAP;**

Sorry, nickname is damn large!And I also think the same since he's a bird after all.

**DarthNox;**

You'll like this then.

**Holoispartan23;**

Thank you!

**Anonymousrules;**

Probably he'll..I hope.

**Unilever;**

Thanks!

**Guest;**

Thanks a lot for reviewing!I appreciate it. I'm glad you liked!

**Blackshadowbutterflys;**

Well...that's Shen's way to be.

**Huntress4455;**

I think the same._ *blushes*_ Cute?Naahhh...

**Shen's follower;**

Ok..before I start to get tired to saying the same thing over and over. Look, it's ok if you love CXML and you like Shen a lot but if you listen (or read)I'll be really happy. What I'll do in this fic is something that it has never been done before in the story of this archive. And it's a rare thing even for the hole website. So please take it easy, and I'm sure that most of you will be shocked but if I play it right and find a way to you all see the logic and innocence of the subject that I'm about to develop I'm sure that all of you'll be satisfied with the results. 

And yes...Charlie would agreed. And me too.

Monkey and Mantis went down to the village after the breakfast. Mei Ling later follow to the same way along with Shen. Crane decided to stay behind to take practice on his calligraphy. The mountain cat definitely complained with her friend saying that the waterfowl should use his free time to do more interesting things.

Crane had few wonders about what exactly was interesting for the mountain cat. Even so he felt a bit insulted by hearing Mei Ling saying that calligraphy was a waste of time. It was one of the avian's favorite hobbies, not that he had many anyway.

Shen wasn't much more of a help by saying that Crane should use his time to fix his hat instead of drawing nonsenses. Of course that Crane didn't like none of it but he knew that the peacock was right about the hat. But the waterfowl expected that Ling would be more concerned about the hat than him. Much to his disappointment she only shrugged about it and suggested him to buy a new one.

Crane passed two hours alone in his room while trying to think on new styles that he didn't tried yet or even something of his own.

"Crane?What you're doing here?"

The waterfowl raised his head only to see a red panda standing at his door.

"Oh, Master Shifu. Nothing really...just practicing a bit, that's all." The avian replied peacefully.

"I see...do you mind if I come in?" Shifu asked raising an eyebrow. Crane made a gesture with his wings allowing his master to come inside." Tell me...why didn't you left with the others?I see no reason to stay behind like this."

Crane sighed. True to be told the avian didn't want to pass another day having to keep an eye on the peacock. It was like having a stubborn child that only wanted to get into trouble.

"I...need some time for myself, just that." Crane tried to sound calm as possible. But maybe he did that a bit too well because Shifu thought he was actually sad.

"It's there something disturbing you?" The red panda asked carefully. Crane took a moment before answering.

"Not really. I just...want to think about things. To see and try to understand my path."

The red panda smiled. That's why he always saw something different on Crane, the avian would think carefully about his decisions. He was not of worrying only about his future but of the other ones too. He was wise and compassive, brave and skilled but sometimes...maybe too friendly. Crane reminded Shifu of Po many times but with clear differences. While the panda was clumsy,inconsequent and stubborn Crane would be the oppose of those 'qualities'. But Crane was Crane and Po was the Dragon Warrior so the panda would always have some more high value than the avian.

Shifu was wondering if the citizens were used with having the Furious Five protecting them because in the last weeks only Po would be the center of the attentions. Everyone would cheer and scream about him while the Five stood back and watched as if they had done nothing.

Of course that such thing wouldn't matter but Shifu was afraid that Crane was actually getting affected by that. After returning of many fights in distant places the avian always seemed sad or upset while the rest was clearly happy and proud of their success. But that also could mean something else...

Master Crane was getting tired of kung fu.

The last thing Shifu wanted was Crane to give up. The avian was too valuable for the group but maybe the avian wasn't seeing any of that value. Only being ignored many times by Tigress and humiliated by Mantis and Monkey throned the avian's optimism to such a low-level that he felt unnecessary to call attention to his person. To not be calling attention would mean that Crane didn't want to do what he should do. Be a hero. The avian was only playing a secondary role in everything related with the Five. It was almost like he didn't want to make part of them anymore.

Shifu knew that Crane's shyness was strong but there was something else that made Crane act the way he was acting in the last months. Whatever it was had, somehow, become even stronger. The bird wasn't dispose to talk with anyone. All he wanted was to be alone. Shifu only could imagine that passing too much time with Shen was relevant to that odd behavior. Since Crane start to relate with the peacock his emotions were more clear than ever.

"Crane, do you have a moment to hear an advice?" Asked Shifu in a somewhat mysterious way. Crane nodded while staring blank at the floor. "If your path is full of darkness with no light in it...make your own light."

The waterfowl blinked while eyeing confused at Shifu.

"What?" Shifu chuckled.

"Only with time you'll understand. Just don't lose your hopes."

The red panda left his room while Crane only could stare trying to find the meaning of Shifu's words.

"Oh and...Po, Viper and Tigress returned from their mission. They succeed on retrieving most of the scrolls. We still need to find the others though. Probably they're with FengHuang. We found some scrolls but not her."

Right after Shifu left Po entered the room along with Tigress and Viper. The panda was really tired while Tigress maintained a neutral expression and Viper stared at him in a very odd way.

"Hey..Crane!What's up?Doing calligraphy again?I thought that you would be down with the others at the village!Oh, yes!We retrieved some scrolls but too bad we could find FengHuang, it would have been awesome!She would be like _ha-aww_!But then I'll be like _Ka-choww_!And then Tigress would be like _Rawww_!And Viper-

"Ok, I got it," Interrupted Crane with a smile."So it didn't went that bad after all?"

"Not really. But I would feel a lot better if we managed to retrieve all of them." Tigress said while staring at the panda. Po gulped nervously and tried to hold better his excitement.

"I wonder what she would want with those scrolls." Viper said while sitting next to Crane.

"Hum...I really don't know but if we take them back it won't matter at all," Said Tigress while leaving the room."I'll go down to the village to see why there are so many people down there today. You're coming Viper?" Viper was a little distracted looking at Crane but she caught herself in time to answer.

"I'm coming!And you Crane?Don't you wanna come with us?" She asked way more gently than usual. Crane felt tempted but declined.

"No, thank you. I want to finish this and then I'll take a walk or something. I'm not in the mood to get myself inside a crowd shopping."

Viper understood his answer and followed Tigress to the village. Po still was in the room.

"Are you not coming?" The panda asked timidly.

"No Po."

"Why not?"

"I just don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not in the mood for such."

"Why not?"

"Po!"

Crane felt his peaceful state burn away while staring annoyed at the panda that realized he went a bit too far. Crane never screamed at him before, it was much unlikely since the bird was always so calm and would be able to deal with Po better than anyone and they were best friends after all. But right now he just acted like Tigress would.

Crane regret immediately about yelling at the panda. He forgot that Po act this way most of the times and it wasn't the panda's fault after all.

"Look Po...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude but...I.."

"Nah, it's ok!" Po said waving a hand but Crane didn't seem so sure.

"Hum...no, it's not. I shouldn't have been so rude, I was..."

"Crane, it's fine. Those things happen, you know...I think that you're a bit stressed. That's all! Anyway if you change mind about it we'll be all in the village, hope to see you there soon. But even if you don't want to I guess you'll have to go anyway." The avian frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"My dad asked to invite all of you for a dinner at his restaurant tonight to celebrate out return," Po informed proudly."I kinda admit that I'm anxious for it. I haven't eat anything in the last 3 hours. Well, til later!" The panda left running down the hall making loud cracking noises. When Crane left his room to figure out what was the cause of the sounds he saw several holes at the wooden floor.

"_*sigh*_I told Master Shifu that he should look for material really resistant instead of a good-looking one."

**2 Hours Later...**

Crane was still at his room practicing his new drawing style. The avian had serious doubts about his talent on doing paintings. Calligraphy was much more easier and simple but the waterfowl, with some sadness, agreed with Mei Ling's opinion that it was kind of boring to do that sometimes.

Now he found out that paintings were incredible hard to draw and to do a decent looking one he would have to spend a great time on it. The avian heard a clanking sound coming from the hall and it was all he needed to know that Shen was back. Curiously he couldn't hear Mei Ling.

"Hey Huang." Mei Ling appeared at his door with several bags at her sides.

_'The shopping was good I guess..'_ Thought Crane while staring at the several things she bought.

"I found a lot of great stuff down there and I have two surprises for you." She said with great enjoyment. Crane's head tilted to the side in curiosity.

The mountain cat moved aside to reveal Shen standing still trying to avoid to stare at any of them. But what really called the attention was the silver robe that the peacock was dressing. Crane's beak opened ridiculously while staring at the magnificent robe.

"Me...how did you.." Started Crane but Mei Ling already anticipated him.

"I bought it," She whispered coming closer to Crane to avoid Shen hearing it." But I said to him that _we_ had paid for it so..play along, alright?"

"But how?That cost thousands." Crane whispered back trying his best to avoid speaking loudly. Mei Ling blushed.

"Hum..actually 120,000 yuans," At this Crane nearly let a scream came out of his large beak but the feline hold it tight."Quiet Jien, I'll tell you later how I paid that, ok?Now...about the other surprise..."

The waterfowl gulped. If she bought Shen such expensive material...maybe she bought something extraordinary to herself? Involuntary Crane was already imaging Mei Ling dressed in a beautiful dress made of the finniest-

"Here you go!" She said suddenly throwing something small at him. Being caught daydreaming the object hit Crane right on his face.

"Argh!What..what's that?" Crane asked while caressing his right eye. Mei Ling sighed and recovered the object placing it in front of the waterfowl. Crane went pale.

"A...straw hat?But...I said I didn't want a new one."

"It's not a new one, it's the old one."

"What?" Crane took the hat with his wings and instantly recognized his beloved straw hat that he carried for so many years."How?.." Mei Ling smiled while leaving the room to place her new things inside her own room.

"Well, lucky yours there was a guy down there that was very good at fixing such things as hats. And it's funny you know...he liked of the hat so much that he asked me if I didn't wanted to sell it." Crane blinked.

"And what did you said?" The mountain cat took a moment to answer.

"I said that...I couldn't sell a gift."

Crane wanted to keep talking with her but she hurried herself and left him alone, well not really.

Lord Shen entered Crane's room with a different attitude that the waterfowl never saw before.

"I just wanted to say...I...I'm thankful for...the robe." The peacock blushed slightly and stared at the wall with some interest. Crane was confused for a moment but then he reminded if what Ling said.

"Oh right, yeah..d-don't mention it."

"I won't," The peacock replied still focused on the wall. Crane rolled his eyes."And if I remind well, the panda invited us to a dinner at his dad's restaurant. So I suggest you get your...what's that you're drawing there?Doesn't look calligraphy."

The peacock tried to see what it was but Crane blocked his view quickly.

"It's nothing, really. Just something random I'm drawing, that's all."

"So be it. And also...Ling wants you to see her in few minutes. She said something about getting you dressed properly." The peacock turned around and left without ceremony. The waterfowl wondered what he was trying to say with 'dressing properly'.

**6 hours later...**

Crane finally understood the meaning of the dressing properly. Mei Ling bought him what seemed more like something that he would use in a funeral than something casual for a simple dinner. Not that he was complaining about having to use a black shirt and large thin black pants with what seemed white gloves but designed for his talons. To make it even more embarrassing she bought him gold rings for his toes and a large one for his neck.

Honestly Crane would've asked to Viper what she think about his style but the snake just ignored him completely without any reason. The waterfowl had to hear Mantis and Monkey laughing their asses off and even Tigress was caught of guard by his new visual. For a terrible moment he thought that the female tiger laughed a bit while Crane was with his back turned at her. Po, instead of everyone else, said that he looked great and would drive the attention of many girls. Normally Crane would have humbly agreed with this but, right after saying that, Po wondered why Crane would do such thing if Mei Ling was there already. The waterfowl didn't need more shameful moments so he left to his room. Crane passed few minutes in his room trying to calm down his mind, he left to get something to drink at the kitchen. Before he could reach it he saw Mei Ling and Shen moving at his direction.

"Hey, Jien!You look great!Are you ready?" She asked happily. Crane was oblivious to what she was saying at that moment since, for once, one of his dreams had become a reality.

The mountain cat was dressed in the most beautiful green dragon robe he had ever seen. Normally a woman wouldn't use a robe to any special ceremony but Mei Ling was a bit different from any other woman in China. She wasn't using her gloves or neither her shoes. Instead she was wearing something similar to sandals. Probably something from the international market. Before Crane could register any more amazing details Shen pushed him in a not very gently way.

"WAKE UP!Are you listening?We're waiting you for minutes!And you just stand there like a fool that found gold. Ling, tell him to move already." Shen was clearly upset since the two have waited the waterfowl to join them outside along with the rest of the Five and Po. It was only when Po started to make questions to the peacock that Shen went after the crane.

Crane tried to recompose himself only to fail miserably when Mei Ling giggled at his behavior. The avian walked while staring at her and the result was colliding with the nearest jar and losing his balance. The avian caught himself just in time to avoid hitting the floor by flapping his wings the fastest he could.

_'That was close. Man, I look so stupid!Come on Crane, try to act more smartly and don't be...a fool.'_ The avian was forced to give some credit to Shen's earlier words about Crane's behavior. Mei Ling went out along with Shen while Crane followed right behind avoiding to drive attention to himself. They reached outside only to find Po and the others waiting for them. I didn't took long for Mantis and Monkey to point and laugh at Crane, but when they saw Mei Ling they immediately shut it.

Crane was curious about their change of acting so sudden. They didn't stared at Mei Ling as a bunch of idiotic pervs but as if someone had made them of idiots and they felt humiliated. It didn't took long to Crane to find out the why of such.

"Don't worry about them," Tigress said while walking next to him. The group was descending the stairs." I don't think they can make fun of you anymore since you're with her."

"What does that mean?" Asked Crane surprised by her statement.

"You know Mantis and Monkey. They laugh about anything that involves you. They were quite having a good fun but I think that when they saw your friend they got a bit jealous."

Crane coughed hardly at this point.

"Jealous?Of what?" The avian said pretending he didn't quite understand what she was trying to say.

"No of what...of you." Tigress said looking directly at him.

"Me?" Crane chuckled."Why so?"

"Please Crane, you really can't find a woman like her just by looking around. You just hit the golden pocket with Mei Ling and Mantis and Monkey really can't find much excuses to laugh at you. Don't you think it's strange that they stopped mocking you about Mei Ling since we came back from Gongmen City?"

Now that Tigress had pointed it out, Crane really took notice that he hadn't heard any jokes involving the mountain cat and him from the pranksters since they reached the valley. So they were jealous...but under what perspective?"

"Hum..Tigress, do you know what exactly makes them jealous about me involving Mei Ling?" Crane asked while keeping his eyes at the peacock that was walking next to them. Tigress snorted.

"Isn't she your girlfriend?"

Crane stopped dead on his tracks and Po, that was right behind the avian, crashed into the waterfowl with all his wei..hum...might. The two rolled down the stairs while everyone else get out of the way to avoid being smashed. Crane and Po's painful screams could be heard from very far in the distance.

*Sigh*_'it's going to be a long night.' _Thought Tigress while contemplating her two friends crashing into each other dozens of times down the stairs.

**A/N: Ok, this got me a bit tired and I checked for errors, if you find something weird tell me because I won't have time to check again for this weekend.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:YAY!New chapter!I think that I'll be updating at this day after all. Good news of course. Okay, no wasting time anymore. To the replies! **

**Charlie ;**

Well, she is now. But I'll tell how, thank you for pointing the errors, that helps a lot. I admit that one was hard to see.

**International-Wonderland;**

I'm happy to see you again!I missed you!Yes, you're right. If done well it can work but it's not exclusive malexmale. It's going to be really different, I promise that. I'm trying something new here. I'm not sure if this kind of thing was done before in a fic but deserves a try.

**Huntress4455;**

Well, actually there is a hint of a love triangle involving Viper but I'll clear things out with time.

**White Tiger;**

Thank you very much!

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

(Define "many" I believe that there aren't many CranexMei Ling fics having them as protagonists, only secondary.)Yes, Mei Ling and Po have lots in common BUT PoxTigress has huge majority. Sorry.

**Alpha tiger;**

Thanks for reviewing!And the answer will come shortly.

**Tropes;**

BIRDSofAFEATHER is really great!But he didn't updated for a long time so...yeah.I guess this is the only for now.

**Shooting Star;**

I can't let him suffering all the time...only most of it.

**Anonymousrules;**

Damn!You know everything!XD

**XdIAZ;**

Thanks!

**Holoispartan23;**

Lol!Just like Shen. Yes, some chapter are coming bigger than I expected. I admit that I need to make them large or this fic will last 2 years.

**strange dude;**

Nice catching, yeap. That's a great clue you got there.

**Frenir;**

Thank you!

**Darthnox;**

No problem.

**Acidblade223;**

I'm already making it with this fic.

**knapper11;**

I'm really, really thankful for the review and I'm very happy that you liked!Yes, the hat needs to be important. It makes part of Crane's personality. I'll try to clear the part about how the hat stays on Crane while he's flying. I have a good idea of how. It's great to be original indeed but also creative.

**Shen's Follower;**

I've been reading your reviews in other stories and Charlie and I can't wait for you to get an account and join us!He said that this archive miss a great supporter like you. The only person to suggest CXML plots to other authors was Charlie and he does that since the archive started. And you're very brave to do that in a CxV fic since most people who support this kind of couple dislike CxML.

Few minutes later the rest of the Five along with Mei Ling and Shen met with Crane and Po at the bottom of the stairs. It wasn't necessary to say that both avian and panda got messed up and with a few injuries. After taking a moment to recover the group went to Po's dad restaurant.

Crane felt his head hurting a lot. Maybe because of the fall or because of something that Tigress said few moments ago. The waterfowl tried his best to stay calm and comfortable. He wasn't succeeding since the same question wouldn't stop showing into his mind.

_'Do I love her?' _

Honestly it was a good question. Crane watched as the mountain cat walked at his front waving her tail slowly. Mei Ling is a beautiful woman. She is charming, she's skilled and strong. She was the only person back at the academy that cared about him when he was nobody. Crane even wondered if she did that only because she thought that the avian would be a great add to the academy. Thankfully he was wrong, even after the trials she remained at his side and with more concern about him that she had ever show to anyone else before. Then why Crane didn't realized that they could be together after all?

Sure, they had great moments with each other and went through several missions and dangers side by side. They slept(Much to Crane's embarrassment)in the same room after Crane was selected as a student. They went to fish at the lake when it was late in night. They trained together, they eaten together...

For the first time in his life Crane knew what it was like to have a friend, someone to share experiences and thoughts. The waterfowl maybe was too afraid that he would ruin that friendship by trying to take it a step deeper that he kept his feelings locked inside his hearth and forgot about them with time.

But now she was back, and he felt like living the old times again. Apparently she hadn't change much. _Apparently._

"I'm anxious to met with your dad Po, how's he like?" Asked the mountain cat. Crane blinked returning to the reality. The panda opened a great smile and started to explain several things about his dad, his job and many other things.

Crane was much more interested in staring at the mountain cat than listening to Po. What he didn't know was that there were to people in the group watching him carefully.

Viper's eyes were carried with hate while she saw Crane unable to take his eyes of the feline cat. But soon she got distracted by Mantis.

"Hey Vip, how ya doing?" Asked the bug jumping at her side.

"I'm fine." She replied sternly.

"Really?You seem tense...maybe you take some time to relieve yourself. I was thinking...what about you and I train a bit later?Maybe the training can take out some of this excessive energy." The bug asked with hope filled in his voice.

The Viper blinked. She turned her attention to Mantis with a surprised expression.

"Training?But..shouldn't we enjoy our free time?" Mantis smirked.

"Alright...that's one of the only two ways that I know to relieve stress, unless you want to try the other one."

"Which is?..." The viper asked frowning.

"Oh, you know...accunpunture." The bug replied with a chuckle. Viper's eyes widened in horror. She definitely didn't have good experiences with accunpunture at all.

"D-Don't you have something else to suggest?" She said trying to sound calm as possible.

"Hum...not really. And you?"

Viper sure did have enough things to suggest instead and she spent the next minutes talking with Mantis and forgot completely about the waterfowl.

Another person that had take notice on Crane's behavior was Shen. The peacock was keeping an eye on Crane. But also he wouldn't stop staring at the mountain cat.

Shen felt like he wanted to say something to them but he really didn't know what it could be. He has the wish but not the words to do it so. It was odd and annoying.

"Shen, I guess you're also going to met Po's dad." Crane said looking at the peacock. The waterfowl's expression was cold and severe. It was rare to see Crane like that, normally such facial expression would be expected from Tigress or Shen. Crane seemed like he was entering in a dangerous territory. The avian was incredible concentrated.

"Hey, Jien?" Called Mei Ling that was right in front of him. The waterfowl was with his eyes fixed at the peacock and he didn't pay attention to her at the moment."Huang?Hello?Jien?"

Po turned his head around to see why Crane wasn't replying. To his bad luck he choose the wrong moment to do it so. Right now the group was about to cross one of the few small bridges of the village.

"Hey, Crane!Are you a-AAAaaahhh!"

While looking behind the panda missed the bridge and walked into the small river. The only problem was that the river was few feet below and after Po fell he made a huge splash throwing water to everywhere.

Everyone that was paying attention was able to dodge the water but not Crane, Mei Ling and Shen.

They were caught off guard and soon the three were completely wet. Crane and Mei Ling moaned. Now they would have to dry their clothes before going anywhere, the peacock didn't seem to mind getting wet and already turned his back at them and walked back to the palace.

Crane was about to call him back but maybe it was better not. Shen probably was trying to contain an infuriating rage and the peacock decide to leave before he did something he would regret later. That kind of attitude was very impressive and Crane was proud that Shen was trying to improve himself even if it wasn't very formal to just leave.

Po got out of the river giving his deepest apologizes to everyone that could hear him. The panda shake his fur throwing water again and nearly getting Tigress wet. The tiger growled and warn Po to be careful.

"Now we're all messy, huh?" Mei Ling said while laughing a bit at the situation.

"I guess...hum...do you want to go back and change?" Crane asked while trying to remove the excessive water of his clothes.

"Sure..why you don't come with me?" The mountain cat asked while moving back to the direction of the staircase.

Crane hesitated. He could easily get dry but Mei Ling not since she had a lot of fur. Maybe she wanted his help to dry her fur.

"Ok, I'll go to. We'll met with you guys later." Crane informed turning to the rest of the group. They all nodded and continue their path.

Mei Ling and Crane returned to the palace few minutes later. They found out that Shen was sleeping already at Crane's room. Not wanting to awake him Crane went to Mei Ling's room and waited at the door while she changed her clothes.

"I believe that Shen won't be joining us anymore." Mei Ling said while inside her room.

"I think so...I'm glad he didn't screamed or anything else. Maybe he's trying to get more..." The waterfowl tried to find the right word to describe it.

"Disciplined?" Suggest the mountain cat opening her door and revealing being dressed in total different clothes but keeping the sandals.

"H-Hmm, yes. You're right. Yeah, that's right. Disciplined...yeah, t-that's right," The avian was totally mumbling at his own words while staring at her. _'Got even more beautiful...' _

"Should we get going?" She said raising her left arm for him to hold it.

_'Oh, my...oh my...ok, breath!It's nothing. Any girl would do that...it means nothing!' _

Crane slowly raised his right wing around her arm as if he was afraid of getting burn. Mei Ling found that reaction a bit strange but decided to keep her opinions to herself.

The waterfowl and the mountain cat made their way back to the village. Crane had forgotten how annoying the staircase was since he would just simply fly. But walking through was tiresome. Now he understood how Po feel when having to go up and down by it many times.

They were almost reaching at the restaurant when Mei Ling decided to chat a bit with him.

"I wanted to ask you few things when we got here." She said distractedly. There were still few citizens walking by in the streets later at night.

"Me too," Crane said back." How did you earned so much money?" The mountain cat blushed considerably.

"Well, I earned a good reward for 'rescuing' the emperor's son from a group of dangerous kidnappers."

"Really?!Wow...how so?"

"I wasn't even aware that he was kidnapped, I was lucky to find them in the middle of the forest on a cold night. From what I could remember they had kidnapped him few hours ago and still were planning what to do about him. They even didn't know who he was. Lucky for them I got them first before the imperial agents. The emperor's son was really young, I guess he was around sixteen years old. He was so scared that even after I took the criminals down he didn't mention a word. He knew I was in the good side at least. I wasn't sure of what to do next but he lead me directly to the palace. I nearly got killed by the guards but the kid cleared things up for me. I was surprised to see the emperor again and him to see me. He was really thankful and gave me a great reward. I tried to refuse. I don't fight for money or anything like that, only for honor. But when he insisted(ordered) I couldn't say no or I would get in lots of trouble, you can't disobey him after all."

"Wow, amazing...damn, you're so lucky." Crane said while staring at her in admiration. The feline snorted.

"You too, but you don't know how. Anyway, what were we talking about?Oh, yes!Some things that I want to ask you."

"Like what?" Crane replied while trying to not trip in the huge concrete blocks that, for some reason, were scattered all over their way.

"Well, when I saw...ahh!" Mei Ling yelled all of sudden and started to jump with only one leg. Crane quickly looked at her to see what happened.

"Are you alright?!" The waterfowl asked while his friend crouched next to the nearest wall. Crane saw her took one of the sandals and caressing her foot with a pained expression.

"I kicked one of those damn rocks!" She said while trying to decrease the pain. The avian stood still unsure of what to say or do."Well, you're just going to stand there?Do something!" She said undignified. Crane eavesdropped while looking at her. What exactly he should do anyway?

People in the street that heard the cat yell were looking at them. Some of them, Crane had notice, were looking at him with censuring eyes.

"Hum..wha..I mean...you want me to...?" The avian asked trying to get a clue of her. Mei Ling stared at him wondering if Crane was joking.

"I want you to be yourself like always." She said trying to stay calm. Crane raised an eyebrow.

"..." The mountain cat rolled her eyes.

"Wow, Jien. I thought you knew that. It's not big deal anyway, just a short massage would be great."

Crane nearly fainted when she said that last words.

_'WHAT?NO!...NO, hell no!Not here!No...no?No!...no...hurmf...maybe...NOT HERE!' _

Crane felt as if his hearth was about to explode. His face just got redier and redier at each second that passed. People were still looking at them and it didn't seem that they would leave soon, he was Master Crane after all.

"-I-I-I-I-I...m-maybe._*cough*_ we...hum...maybe.._*sniff*_..errr...we...hum...can't...can't we do that later?" The avian smiled nervously. Mei Ling's mouth drop open in shock and disappointment.

_'Great...now I'm a jackass.' _

"Alright!I'll do that!But...not here." He said pleading at the last words. Mei Ling shrugged.

The waterfowl helped her to get up and while supporting her he went far as he could from undesirable attention. Soon they found themselves near at the outskirts of the village. Crane walked to the top of a small grassy hill. He helped Mei Ling to sit and went to her left foot.

Crane gulped nervously. He never did that before with anyone not even himself. The mountain cat was worried with his apprehensiveness.

"Are you alright?If you don't know how to do that I can tell you." She said being gently as possible.

Maybe it was not a matter of knowing what to do but with who he was doing that. He never caressed Mei Ling before. Never helped her to heal a wound or help her with her training exercises back at the academy. Just touching her made him feel so strange.

"I..I-I can handle it. Just give me a moment."

"Ok..."

**21 minutes later... **

"Jien...you don't have to be so shy about such thing you know..we're just friends." Mei Ling said after getting tired of waiting for Crane to move a single feather.

"What?No!I..just.."

"I doesn't matter. I don't feel pain anymore!Let's get to the restaurant already." Mei Ling got up and walked away not bothering to wait for him to come along.

Crane sighed deeply. _'Good work Crane, you stupid coward!Now she's disappointed with you. Isn't that great?' _

The waterfowl felt so ashamed of his behavior that he decided to return to the palace. He was so sad that he didn't bother to fly. When reaching the palace he went directly to his room. He took quite a shock when he saw Shen standing in front of his door.

"I thought you were sleeping." Crane said looking at the peacock. Shen grunted.

"You should be at the restaurant, shouldn't you?" The peacock retorted with a smirk. Crane told to Shen about what happened even if the peacock probably wouldn't be concerned about that." You're weak."

"Weak?That's how you define me?" Crane asked smiling.

"You better that take smile out of your face because what you did pretty much could be resumed as fear of woman." Shen said getting angry.

"Fear of woman?I'm not afraid of women. I hang out with Tigress and Viper lots of times."

Shen raised an eyebrow. What exactly Tigress has of feminine he didn't know.

"Besides those?"

"...well, there was...that one...and..."

"Nobody, you know why?You're too shy for them. Not that I should care about but...I maybe can help you." Shen was clearly regretting that the moment he say it. Or maybe he was just pretending.

"You?Help me?To get along with another woman?" Crane's disbelief was obvious but Shen didn't let that affect him.

"I have much more advantages to relate with a woman than you." The peacock said back aggressively.

"Like what?"

"First of...I'm not you."

_'Son of a...' _

"What else?" Crane asked while trying to contain himself.

"I related with a woman when I was a teenager. It didn't last but I went pretty well. And even managed to-

"I don't need all details!" The waterfowl interrupted abruptly. Shen chuckled darkly.

"Alright...then let's start with your lessons."

"Wh..now?"

"Of course now!What?You want to wait for more 15 years?!GET IN LINE!" Shen yelled ordering Crane to take place at his front. The waterfowl gulped nervously and did what it was told him to do."Good. I'll test your psychological. First, you need to imagine that I'm a woman."

Crane laughed a lot.

"S-so..hahahahah, I...haahhah. Then you're just like Tigress," Shen gave the other avian a good hit in the belly."Ugh...I...got..it."

"Let's try another way...Imagine that I'm Ling."

"..."

"What?" Shen asked noticing the crane's expression.

"Hum...no offense but...there's a abysmal difference between you and Ling so I can't think miracles," Shen gave Crane a murderous stare."I said no offense."

The peacock sighed annoyed and went to another method.

"Let's try this, I want you to massage my feet."

"WHAT?Hell no!" Crane said undignified."Are you crazy?!" The peacock nodded.

"Ok, tell me...what was the first thing you thought after she asked the same thing?"

"Hum...just what I said." Crane replied making an effort to understand what the peacock was trying to prove.

"But when I asked you that you felt afraid or disgusted?"

"Disgusted of course!" The waterfowl replied immediately.

"Ok, and with the cat?"

"Well, I guess that...afraid."

"Don't you think that you maybe had reacted similar to the way you did now and, with that, Mei Ling thought that you felt disgusted by her request?That's the kind of thing that could hurt her feelings." Now the waterfowl was really concerned.

"What?No, no, no!I didn't mean to hurt her feelings!I just...can't!I..."

"You're afraid of her," Shen stated. The waterfowl took few seconds to admit it but he slowly nodded." Because you love her, don't you?"

"I don-

"SHUT UP!"

Crane eyes widened. What the hell was wrong with this peacock?

"Think for a second, you wouldn't be afraid of her if you just saw her as a friend. You're afraid of her because you do feel something for Ling that leaves you with terrible doubts. If you tell her about your feelings...she maybe correspond to them, or maybe not. And that's what keeps you away from her. You're afraid of rejection. Afraid of getting hurt by a possible denial. Afraid of ruining your friendship. Afraid of humiliation. I can't blame you for that. From what she told me you passed for many hard moments in your past."

Crane was shocked but also amazed and a bit curious about the peacock's attention towards him.

"Why you're caring so much?I thought you didn't like me."

"I never said that!I...I'm in debt with you and by helping you we'll be even. That's all." Shen replied keeping his expression neutral but his eyes betrayed him. The peacock was still avoiding to look at Crane.

"Or you're just being friendly." Crane said teasing the peacock.

"I'm not friendly, helpful maybe but not friendly."

"Prove it." Shen finally stared at the crane.

"I will. Take my words."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Guys, forgive me for this short chapter. I realized that I had to end this day first before jumping into the next one so it become short. And I promise that I'll let replies for reviews in the next one, I didn't have much time this week to work in the fic.**

**Meanwhile...**

Mei Ling entered at the restaurant and immediately spotted Po and the others at the table next to the balcony. After passing through several empty tables she reached them.

"Hey Ling, you and Crane took long enough!We've been waiting for quite some time you know." Mantis said after the mountain cat reached their table.

"Sorry, me and Jien ended in a nice conversation and forgot about where we should go." Mei Ling responded with a tiny smile.

"Yeah but...where's Crane?" The bug noticing that the waterfowl hasn't come with the feline cat.

Everyone else was surprise to not see Crane there too.

"What happened?Is Crane alright?" The panda expressed his concern while serving the dinner to his friends. **A/N:Noodles?Yaaayyyy...*sarcasm***

"He's alright I guess...maybe he wasn't hungry." She said feeling a bit guilty. Mei Ling knew that the avian probably was blaming himself for his strange attitude and he was afraid of being around her. She shouldn't have get upset with Crane like that, it wasn't his fault if he was shy. The mountain cat forgot about that. _'He didn't change that much as I thought, I was expecting him to be more mature after all these years.' _

"Not hungry?" Po was disappointed. "Hum...ok, maybe another day than..." The panda returned to the kitchen were his father was preparing the deserves. The goose noticed the sadness over his son's face.

"Are you ok Po?You don't seem very well." The goose asked looking at him while carrying a large basket filled with fruits.

"Nah, I'm good but I wonder why Crane didn't want to come." Po replied while staring disappointed to the ground.

"Hmm, maybe he has others things to do, you know how busy those masters can be." Ping suggested trying to comfort the panda. Po chuckled.

"Maybe, yeah. You're right dad. I should have asked to him personally. Well, maybe he can come tomorrow."

"That's right son, no reason to worry so much, and how you're doing with the scary woman there?"

"Huh?" Po frowned in confusion." Oh!You mean Tigress?Yeah, I'm..I'm good, why you ask?"

The goose laughed quietly before answering.

"Well, didn't you told me that you have felt something for her?"

"What?Nahh!Pfff!Me?Noooo...of course not. I mean, she's...her and I'm...me. You know, like...different." Po stared at his surroundings hoping nobody else was there to hear it.

"Oh, of course you do!What are you afraid of son?One day you'll have to find someone, you can't wait forever." Ping said getting serious at the end of the speech.

"I know dad!It's just that..argh!I don't know how to tell her how I feel without getting killed in the process." Po said with desperation.

"Yes, I understand how you feel. It must be hard to get into a relationship while being on so many dangerous missions. If one of you...well. That's life son."

"Errr...I wasn't talking about the missions dad."

**Meanwhile...**

"This is ridiculous!I won't do that!" Crane protested while turning his back to the peacock that was sharing his own room.

"Then you can give up already, I'm sure that Mei Ling will find someone who deserves her better." Shen replied maliciously.

Those words hurt Crane's pride. The avian was getting infuriated not only with Shen but with himself too.

Crane had no choice but accept Shen's help. The waterfowl tried to listen to the peacock when referring about how get into a relationship. unfortunately the only relationship Shen had been 'inconvenient' for what Crane wanted to learn. Shen only related to a woman to satisfy his teenager needs instead of distracting himself with a female from his stressful life.

The waterfowl wasn't surprised by that since Shen didn't seem the kind of guy who could be charming, but his intimidation towards certain womans could be considerate as succeful...sometimes.

"I won't give up!But you really had no idea of how to be..._formal_ with a woman."

The peacock just ignored him and crouched next to his bed.

"It would be a lot easier if we had a clue if she feels something for you or not then we're just wasting time."

Crane tried to retort but nothing came to his mind. He just stared blank at the albino bird at the floor. Few minutes of silence passed in which none of them made a move. Finally Crane spoke.

"It...we passed so much time together, she must feel something..."

Crane wasn't wondering anymore, he was pleading. The avian never felt such low confidence since the times before he met Mei Ling. It was as if all the last eighteen years never happened. He felt young and weak again. With dreams but no hopes.

"What if she doesn't?What you're going to do?Kill yourself?" Shen's voice was cold and sinister. The peacock actually was expecting the Crane to commit suicide if he was rejected.

The waterfowl felt shock by hearing such thing. He would never go that far, would he?

"No...I...I can live with it." Crane said trying to recover himself.

"The matter it's not if you can live with it, it's if you can live without her."

"What do you mean?" Crane was disliking of this conversation for a long time but regretted he didn't gave up of it.

"Let's say...if she dies, how-

"SHUT UP!Don't dare you to say that!She won't die, not if I can avoid it!" The waterfowl raged over the peacock clearly angry and terrified. "I would die for her, you heard me!?I would die if that could save her!"

Shen was taken aback by the sudden aggressiveness of the crane. It was amazing the difference of the soft and caring to this infuriated and desperate one.

"Ok, I won't suggest such thing anymore. Just calm down you idiot, screaming won't get you nowhere," Shen said while laying over his bed."Still I wonder what your excuse is going to be for not going to the dinner anyway."

Crane cringed when he remembered about the dinner where he was supposed to be.

"There'll be others." Shen chuckled from his bed. He was staring at the wall on purpose and with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, so be it. I don't know why you're so worried about getting a date with that woman or not. You shouldn't be so concerned since she clearly likes you."

"You think so?" Crane asked feeling his confidence coming back.

"Yes, you're lucky." Shen said clearly upset.

"Why?"

"At least there's someone who cares about you."

Crane's expression saddened a bit. For a moment it seemed that Shen was talking about Crane being ungrateful for having people who liked him. But the waterfowl realized the double meaning in those words. Shen also refereed about himself.

"Shen...I..."

"I don't need your pity. When I really needed it wasn't offered and I passed around thirty years vaguing with a bunch of wolfs in the worst places you can't imagine. It's too late for that." Shen interrupted angrily. The peacock regretted letting the waterfowl know how he felt.

**3.10 hours later...**

Po and the others had return to the palace. The dinner had went pretty well. While Po and Monkey had a lot of fun together Mantis and Viper were talking privately. Tigress was eating quietly until Mei Ling showed up to talk with her. The tiger didn't mind talking with the mountain cat. In fact, if there's was something that made Tigress felt more comfortable was talking with the female cat. Mei Ling knew how Tigress personality could be hard to deal with sometimes, Crane had told about it many times in his letters. Tigress was professional and incredibly respectful with the others and with that she would expect the same. At least from Crane and Viper that respect would come back.

Now Mantis and Monkey were the ones to bring the 'balance' to her life. But things just changed completely when Po became the Dragon Warrior. Po wasn't like Mantis or Monkey but his clumsiness was..unique. Sometimes it made her angry but the innocence in them would make her anger go away. Tigress had to admit that Po was a happy and charming person, he would do a lot of mess one time or other but he's always willing to help and make things better for everyone.

Now Mei Ling was a bit different from Po but she was good as the panda. Tigress had a feeling that the mountain cat was trying to be good friends with her. Much to Tigress concern the mountain cat was doing pretty well. Tigress didn't remind of talking with someone else so much about herself, not even with Viper or Shifu. Mei Ling also spent lots of minutes talking about herself and what Tigress took notice was that she talked a lot about Crane. It took some time to Tigress realize about who the cat was talking about because Mei Ling was used to call Crane by the name Jien. The female tiger never heard Crane's full name before. Huang Xin Jien, it was quite a name but Ling would only call Crane by the last name.

Tigress stopped few moments to think that none of the Five ever told their true names to the others. Actually Crane's name was the first one to be revealed.

While everyone else went to their rooms Po decided to check Crane to see if he was ok. But when he reached Crane's door he was distracted by Tigress.

"Po, do you mind if I talk with your for a minute?" The female tiger asked while checking the empty hall.

"Uh?Oh, yeah, sure," The panda stopped at her side."What is it?"

"I want to talk about the peacock." She said lowering her voice.

"Shen?What about him?" Po asked being surprise by her question.

"Do you trust that peacock?" Tigress voice was firm and carried with anxiety.

Again Tigress was demonstrating her lack of confidence on Po's decisions no matter how lovely and filled with compassion they could be. The panda sighed heavily wondering what exactly he could say that would leave Tigress less worried.

_'Oh gee, here we go again, what should I say to her?I don't think that the old good guy that gives a second chance will be enough...maybe, no that's not good ..I...no!Common there must be something you can use as an explanation!Thinking so much it's making me hungry...maybe I could go to the kitchen for a quick snack...it's strange tha-' _

"Po?" Called Tigress that was waiting for an answer but instead she was seeing the panda doing strange facial expressions while moving his eyes one side to other.

_'-oming along with her. I mean, could be that hard for him to tell her once? I know that Crane isn't much of showing his feelings but even I can see what's going on!And I'm not that good at paying attention to certain things...maybe that's why Master Shifu always gets angry with me during the trainings, but it's not my fault if t-'_

"Po?!" Called Tigress again being louder this time, her patience was decreasing fast. But apparently Po was still floating inside his own mind.

_'-ink that thing!Anyway I know that Shen isn't really evil or something like that, he's just...pfff, I don't know how to tell that!But I'm sure he can change if we give a chance. But of course she won't listen to that, maybe Mei Ling can talk with her better, she's really nice after all. I wish Tigress was a bit more like her. Speaking of it what Tigress asked?I can-' _

"PANDA!ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?!" Tigress nearly roared. Po was thrown off of his thoughts instantly.

**Meanwhile...**

Crane was shaken out of his dreams by a loud scream that came from the hall.

_'What now?I hope they don't awake Shen or I won't sleep this night.' _

"I wonder if there's one single night that you all sleep like normal living beings." Shen whispered. It was all that Crane didn't want to hear, his voice. Crane was still in his sleeping position but even with his eyes closed he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

_'At least most of them we do.'_

**Meanwhile...**

"Huh?What?Oh, Tigress!Yeah, I was...hum, thinking." Po said smiling nervously while taking few steps back away from her.

"Really?...so?" She asked being completely annoyed.

"Ehh...so what?"

Tigress face-palmed. But she was so strong that it didn't make much difference from a punch.

"Po, you know what?I'll go to my room hoping to avoid a great pain in the head. And you...go sleep already." Tigress ordered menacingly while entering her room.

Po eavesdropped before moving to his room, he forgot that he was still in front of Crane's room and by entering in it so quickly he bumped into the avian throwing him over Shen's bed.

"What the hell?!" Screamed Shen while trying to take Crane out of his bed.

"Ops, sorry!" Po said quickly running away to his own room and closing Crane's door after leaving. The waterfowl manage to get off over Shen and return to his previous position.

"I'm having too many 'encounters' with Po for my own sake." Crane said with mockery while reminding about the stairs incident earlier that night.

"You're not the only one." Shen said after recover his breath. The waterfowl had fallen over his chest.

"Are you alright?" Crane asked noticing the peacock caressing his own chest with his wings.

"I'll live..for now." The peacock replied with no interest on prolonging the conversation.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Well, the update. I know that many people in this archive don't have deep knowledge of KFP world so I made this chapter more...informative. And also I made something that was bothering me a bit. You'll know what when you reach the end of the chapter. Ok, to the replies!**

**International-Wonderland;  
><strong>

Thank you for the review. If I never finish this fic there will be only one excuse...I died.

**White Tiger;**

I'm glad you like it. :)

**Holoispartan23;  
><strong>

Thank you!Well, for how much I'm used to wrote it was short.

**DSAP;**

Really?Thank him! XD

**Frenir;**

Thanks!

**XdIAZ;**

LOL, no he didn't. :P

**Shooting Star;**

Thank you very much!

**Charlie ;  
><strong>

Wow, thanks Charles!I'm really honored to receive such compliment!

**Huntress4455;**

Thank you for the review. I'm glad you understand about the PoxTigress thing, indeed I can't rush it. Which one you think would be harder to happen?CxS or PXT?(Yes, I know that CxS but it won't be much of a difference)

**Alpha Tiger;**

Thanks!I'm happy to know that you found them to be humorous!

**Anonymousrules;**

Lol, yeah. That's right. 

**Strange dude;**

Well...I guess maybe one day. But thank you anyway!

**Unilever;**

ANTOFRAKINBELIEVABLE!(?)I just ROFL!XDXD I'm so happy to see you again!

**Shen's General aka Shen's Follower;**

Well, here's the update, sorry for keeping you waiting but I hope it's worth of the waiting. The chapter was harder than I was expecting. I'll also check on your fic soon. I wish I could say more but now that you have an account it's not really necessary to put it here.

Sunday's morning went pretty well without any further incidents to Crane. No incidents would mean not having Shen angry with something or Po fooling around. In fact the only thing that Crane had to worry was starting the basic training with Shen. Normally that could wait until Monday but Crane wanted to start it already since the training hall would be empty.

The Training Hall was first constructed almost nine hundred years ago by Master Golden Takin, who was the first martial arts instructor to be appointed by Grand Master Oogway. The Training Hall had undergone many refurbishments over the years, with the current one being designed by Shifu alone.

The Training Hall is said to have undergone many expansions and refinements over the years, each modification reflecting the wishes and training philosophy of the current martial arts instructor. The present incarnation of the Training Hall was design by Master Shifu (due to his strict nature at the time) and is noted to be the most dangerous, difficult, and terrifying training layout in the entire history of China.

There are six notable obstacles in this Training Hall;

When the great Master Oogway traveled to a lost mining village hidden in the Mystic Mountains, he was presented with the rare gift of a massive hunk of jade. Ever the humble master, Oogway decided himself unworthy of such a gift, and divided it among the villagers as a token of his respect. The remaining shell was taken to the temple where it is used even today for the avid training of his disciples. It is said that if one listens hard enough, each ring from its lustrous surface resonates with Oogway's humble chuckle. This obstacle is called The Jade Tortoise of Wisdom.

Inspired by the legendary fighters of the Ngoh Wan Crocodile Clan whose armored hides were said to be able to withstand the iron arrows of the Shaanxi spirit archers and the black stone clubs of the mountain giants from Hengshan, the gauntlet of steel-studded wooden warriors is a formidable test for any Kung Fu master. You need the speed of a striking cobra, the reflexes of a hunting panther, and the courage of a dragon warlord to run the gauntlet and emerge unscathed. This obstacle it's called The Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors.

The Seven-Talon Rings are each an abstraction of the great mythical seven-toed demon serpent that guarded the mouth of the Xing Yun Jin Cave (the 'Lucky Golden' cave). This beast savagely attacked anything that neared its nest, spinning and spiraling in a scaled flurry of talons and fangs. Any brave scavengers desiring the vast deposits of gold believed to line the walls of his cave never survived long enough to find out if the legend of the gold was in fact true.

The heavy wooden metal-spiked clubs are modeled after the acrobatic Eshan porcupines of Yunnán Province. To be struck by the flat wooden stomach is to be rendered instantly unconscious. To be struck by the long metal spikes on the back is to meet an instant agonizing death. Only a few fearless masters have the skill to traverse the spinning serpent logs and avoid being struck by the swinging clubs. This obstacle is called The Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion.

A master is only as balanced as his or her stance — a teaching illustrated by this formidable training device. Fueled by fiery fury from below, it denies even the slightest of safe surfaces. It is rumored that a long-forgotten master was inspired to create the device upon seeing the graceful gyrations of a leaf traversing a violent lava field. A separate myth of even deeper mystery suggests that it was instead created by an angry farmer trying to keep away salesmen. This obstacle is called the Field of Fiery Death.

And of course...the doll.

This deceptively simple training device is the first to be faced by any student entering the sacred Training Hall. Filled with sand from the upper deserts(it's just sand, doesn't matter from where), it absorbs the punishing blows of any opponent and returns it tenfold. Caution is urged for the unfortunate unwary.

Of course that Master Po was anything but cautiousness.

And the exterior of the Training Hall consists of a walled courtyard with various training devices scattered around the edges, such as a weapons rack. Here students can exercise alone.

Shen wasn't fully recovered from his wounds and it would take few more weeks until he get on his best form. Basic training would consist of speaking a lot about the style and demonstrating to Shen some movements. The peacock wasn't all that interested but at least he didn't object.

"...so I believe you can learn very well without disturbances." Crane had just finish explaining his reasons of training today.

"Seems reasonable ,when we'll get started?" Shen asked accepting the waterfowl's idea.

"How about now?Unless you have something better to do..."

Shen blinked for a moment. No he didn't have nothing better to do since he got to that place. It was kind of obvious.

"No...lead the way." The peacock said after a moment of silence. Crane nodded already turning around to the training hall.

"Hey Jien!" Crane turned around to see Mei Ling coming at their direction. She was using her normal training outfit. "Are you guys going to the training hall?"

"Hum...yes?" The waterfowl replied while staring at her wondering why she always had to keep tracking him.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if I could go along with you two. I wanted to try your equipment. I want to see how good it is." She said looking around innocently with her hands behind her back.

Crane frowned a bit. He didn't believe that she only wanted to test the equipment.

"Ok, I guess it's fine then. Shen I thi-

"Can I talk with you?" Mei Ling interrupted getting next to Crane. The waterfowl let out a gasp of surprise came out of him.

"Err..right, ehh...Shen, go ahead, I'll see you in there soon." Crane said to the peacock that was eyeing Mei Ling with suspicious.

Shen nodded without taking him eyes of the cat but soon he left leaving them alone.

"Jien, I...wanted to talk about last night." She said while making an effort to keep looking at the avian's eyes.

Crane felt something hard hit his stomach by the inside. Last night was something he wanted to forget and he already thought that the mountain cat left that behind too. He was undoubtedly wrong.

"Oh, yeah...last night..I...well, you know...heh, I..yes! I wanted to talk about that too."_ 'Of course not!' _Crane thought right after replying.

"Really?What is it?" Mei Ling said clearly surprised by the fact that Crane was still concerned about yesterday.

The waterfowl stop for a moment to think why he had to say about it first. Nevertheless he expressed his feelings about the matter in question.

"I'm sorry...for my behavior, I was a coward. I shouldn't act the way I did that night. It's just that..I was afraid that...I'm not use to be this intimate with a friend you know, much less in the middle of the street. I hope you can forgive me for that."

Mei Ling seemed shocked by what the avian said. She wasn't expecting that, especially because she was the one who wanted to apologize.

"Jien," Mei Ling felt her voice trembling a bit." It's alright. I'm the one who should have been more comprehensive. You're so shy after all. I thought that after all these years that had ended, but I was wrong. And you know what?I'm happy to know that a part of you didn't change a bit, that's why I...knew you were different from the rest."

Crane couldn't help but notice that she changed her speech at the end as if she almost said something she didn't want to. Even so he was happy to know that she wasn't mad at all.

"Well, then I guess it's no big deal anymore, right?" Crane said smiling. Mei Ling returned the smile.

"Of course not, those things happen anyway even with best friends."

Crane smiled faded a bit.

"Yeah...even with best friends, you're right."

"Are you alright?" Mei Ling asked noticing the change on the avian.

"Yes, don't worry it's nothing," Lied Crane. "I just reminded myself that I need to go see Shen in the training hall."

"Oh, right!Let's go then." The mountain cat said taking the lead.

The avian sighed. _'So much already for basic training.' _

Crane entered the training hall to see Ling next to Shen staring at the obstacle course.

"It's that it?HEY!Isn't that our device from the academy?!" She said pointing to The Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion.

"Yes, they are. Master Shifu was fascinate with that equipment when he came to the academy many years ago. He decided to install a bigger one in here." Crane responded proudly.

"What's that?A large bowl of soup?" The peacock said feeling amused. Crane saw that he was pointing at the jade tortoise.

"No, that's for balance. You-

"Wait, balance?Who trains balance in that thing?With so much in the nature to train your balance it's really necessary to put that in the middle of this course?"

If Shen have said that Crane wouldn't be surprise but since it was Mei Ling who said it the waterfowl felt embarrassed. Crane was the only who regularly would make use of the tortoise during training. Now both of them were making Crane feel like an idiot.

"Shen, let's start the basic training, shall we?" Crane said getting a bit irritated with them. The peacock leave to a corner with Crane while Mei Ling decided to went through the course.

"It's safe for her to go in there by herself?" Shen asked while keeping an eye on the mountain cat. The peacock hatted to admit but that course was intimidating.

"Don't worry, we had something similar back at Lee Dai. Now...about the Fujian White Crane Style. The characteristics of this style are deep-rooted stances, intricate wing techniques and fighting mostly at close range as if to imitate a pecking bird. H-

"A pecking bird?Can you show me the pecking part?" Shen asked making fun of it. Crane frowned. Loud noises could be heard coming from the obstacle course.

"No. The flying crane style however has a greater amount of long range techniques although it too does prefer close quarters wing oriented combat, which simulates the flapping of the wings. In rare cases some white crane styles also use a great variety of traditional weapons since others have discontinued practice with ancient weaponry. I don't make use of any but I guess you will."

"I can surely fight better with weapons, hand-to-hand is not my type." The peacock was relieved that he would be able to continue using weapons. The noises in the obstacle course were getting intense.

"I can see that," Crane responded smiling a bit. "Before I can proceed I was wondering...are you familiar with any martial art?"

"Cai Li Fo." Shen responded bluntly.

"Oh, that explains the excessive use of those blades. It's really useful." Crane said hoping that it sounded like a compliment. The Training Hall was quiet now.

"Whatever, I jus-

"Hey, how you guys doing?" Mei Ling had show up right at their side. Crane was amazed to see that she was still in one piece.

"So, how did it went in there?" The waterfowl asked. Mei Ling let a laugh came out of her.

"Piece of cake, the Five only do that for training?" She said while looking around expecting to find more dangerous devices. Crane sweet-dropped.

"Errr...no. So I guess you're done testing for now..."

"Yeah, I'm going to take a walk or something, see you two later."

Crane watched as the mountain cat left the Training Hall. When he turned his attention back to the obstacle course Crane nearly passed out.

Were once there was a deadly arena filled with terrifying mechanisms now only were laying several debris. Mei Ling didn't _passed_ through the obstacle course...she destroyed it completely!The only thing left was the jade tortoise. The most dangerous, difficult, and terrifying training layout in the entire history of China...now on pieces.

"Master Shifu is going to kill me..."

Shen went to his side to check the devastation.

"Doesn't look so bad." Crane used all the effort he had to not hit the peacock.

"Shen, to you that's a picnic day."

**4 hours later... **

What seemed a promising day had just turned out to be one of Crane's worst days ever. Shifu never yelled with him so much before and as a punishment for his irresponsibility the waterfowl would have to fix the Training Hall all by himself. Seeing how angry Shifu got Crane was glad he only took that as a punishment.

Crane knew he should have told Mei Ling to not go wild over the equipment. But of course the avian had no idea she was that fierce. It was scary even to think about it. Mei Ling had become stronger?Yes she did, but Crane never could imagine she would be able to go far as Tigress, or maybe even farther.

Thanks to his kung fu skills the avian didn't take much time to fix the arena. It wasn't an easy task and when Crane finished he felt extremely exhausted. The only thing he wanted to do now was to eat something and sleep for the rest of the day.

The waterfowl went to his room but instead of sleeping he decided to finish his painting. For his unhappiness Shen entered his room right after.

"There you are, did you finished cleaning the mess?" The peacock said clearly having fun while thinking about the crane sweeping the floor like a miserable janitor. Ironically Crane actually use to be a miserable janitor many years ago, of course that Crane never told about how miserable he was while being the janitor.

"Yes, I did. I only want to rest now if you don't mind." Crane stated hoping that the peacock would leave for once.

"Fine, stay here with your stupid painting, what are you drawing anyway?Yourself?" The peacock asked while leaving the room.

"No, I'm not." Crane responded coldly.

"Humf, I should know. After all you wouldn't need all those colors, you're just black and wh-

The peacock froze with his beak open unable to finish his words. Crane turned his attention from his painting to Shen. The peacock's expression was terrifying.

"Shen?Are you alright?...Shen?"Called Crane quickly being concerned by the peacock's behavior. The albino bird blinked few times before regaining his own attention.

"Huh?I...need to leave for a moment." Before Crane couldn't say anything Shen left in a hurry not bothering to close the door.

"Okaaayyyy..." _'That was weird.' _

**Meanwhile... **

Shen was alone in the kitchen staring at the wooden table, memories were floating inside his head as he remembered of that especial day many years ago.

**Flashback(30 years ago)- **

_It was almost evening, the winter was intense and the emperor of Gongmen City was more than concerned about the problem with the plantations. The snow wasn't allowing anything to grow and reach a healthy quality. But that night such thing would be the last of his concerns._

_"Soothsayer?What are you doing here?' Asked the peacock emperor noticing the female goat standing on front of him. The emperor was so distracted with the scrolls with information from the farmers that he didn't saw her coming._

_"Greetings emperor, sorry for disturbing you but...I have something I need to discuss with you and your wife." The Soothsayer said. She seemed anxious. The tall dark-blue feathered peacock was surprise by her nervousness. Even so he left to find his wife. While the emperor was out the Soothsayer placed a small bowl in front of her. She mixed strange things inside her bowl.  
><em>

_In the mean time the emperor didn't took long to find his wife._

_"What's going on my dear?Something happened?" The blue peahen asked to her husband while following him to the throne room. _

_"I don't know, the Soothsayer requested our presence. I never saw her so tense before." The taller peacock responded._

_None of the two took notice of their son that was walking in the same hall. The albino bird saw his parents crossing the hall with extreme hurry. Normally he wouldn't care about what they would be doing. Their royal problems weren't of his concern. Despite that the peacock couldn't help but feel the curiosity growing deep inside him. Completely against his own ill he followed them discretely. _

_It didn't take long for them to reach the throne room. Shen hided himself behind one of the magnificent pillars. He saw his mother and father right in front of the throne and the old goat standing in front of them with a small bowl laying in the floor between her and the avians._

_'What that crazy goat is doing here?Probably she came to deliver some useless messages.' Thought Shen while looking with disgust at her._

_"What's the matter Soothsayer?" The empress asked softly but with apprehensiveness evident in her voice._

_"I have something disturbing to reveal, it's about Shen." She said._

_Shen's eyes went wide. His hearth start beating faster than ever. _

_'Me?Could it be possible that she found out?' The peacock was afraid that the goat had discovered about his experiments with the powder and what he planned to do with it. _

_"Shen?Why?Did he made something wrong?" The emperor asked fearfully. _

_"Not yet." The goat responded smiling sadly. The empress was confused._

_"What do you mean?" She asked tilting her head to the side. _

_The Soothsayer picked up her bowl and scrutinized it pensively. _

_ "...If Shen continues on his current path," She said, picking up a small bit of powder and throwing it in the bowl where it sparked brightly and emitted illuminated smoke. The smoke rose and twisted itself into a clearly-visible figure- "A peacock," the Soothsayer confirmed as the smoke twisted itself into another shape, a ying-yang. "...Is defeated by a warrior of black and white."_

_Shen's expression turned dark and sinister instantly. Fear and anger were filling his emotions._

_'A warrior of black and white...not if I can avoid it.' Shen left the room quietly while thinking on a devilish plan to avoid his undesirable fate._

_"But...what warrior?Defeated how?" Asked Shen's father who seemed shocked and skeptical while his wife remained silent._

_"I don't know...it's impossible to say even what kind of person would be the black and white warrior. Maybe it's about skin, clothes, fur, feathers...there are many possibilities." The goat said retrieving her bowl." But don't tell about this to your son. It wouldn't be wise to generate this fear in him." _

**End Flashback- **

Shen heard footsteps coming from the outside of the kitchen. He raised from his seat and left pretending to be alone.

_'Was I mistaken all this time?No, it can be. That panda, he d...he won. He was the black and white warrior I'm sure. Not that stupid weakling avian. He has nothing to do with it!'_ Shen was trying to convince himself that he made the right guess when deciding who would be the warrior that would stand in his path to glory.

But the peacock was starting to have second thoughts. What defeat really means? His death?Most likely, but there is another kind of defeat?If there is...what would it be like?

'_I didn't make a mistake!I knew the answer since that day!It was the most obvious one!I didn't kill them for nothing!'_ The peacock felt like he was going crazy. The more he insisted in the choice he made the more he felt doubt about it._ 'It can't be...just can't...' _

**A/N: *%¨#&$#¨&*#$¨*#$ What the hell?!I read all the fics related to Shen in this archive and NOBODY wrote about the prophecy scene many years ago. SHAME!...thanks for reading.**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Hey everyone!Sorry for taking so long to update but well...here it is. I didn't have much time to work on the fic in last week so that's why I lost time, but please take notice that the last two chapters are over 4,000 words when I usually wrote 3,000. To the replies!**

**International-Wonderland;  
><strong>

Really?I also don't think that he let the fact of being albino affect him that much. But thanks anyway!

**Shen's General a.k.a Shen's Follower;**

I don't think that they'll actually fight against each other but Shen will be really concerned from now.

**Huntress4455;  
><strong>

Yeah, I read all of them but something even more impressive would be someone who read all the fics in this archive. Honestly the only person(that I know) who did that was Charlie B. Barkin.

**Charlie ;  
><strong>

Yeah, they have some things in common but...well, we have to wait to see where this will go.

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

I wonder what would happen with him if he had surrender. I don't think that his crimes would be easily forgiven. Heck, his crimes will still be the cause of a lot of trouble in this fic.

**Anonymousrules;**

Thanks!That idea was in my mind for quite some time, I was unsure of using it because I thought that Crane's neck was dark purple and not pure black but...well.

**Frenir;**

Thanks!I'm glad to give some deep info about KFP world.

**Unilever;**

Glad you liked it!

**strange dude;**

Yeah, it's strange but could work.

**Unrealistic23;**

Thank you!I'm glad you found that scene humorous, things are becoming so serious that I'm having a hard time to fit the humor in there.

**knapper11;  
><strong>

Wow, I wonder why Ping would do that(I know why but I don't think he would be that radical) and thanks for the tip, yeah, sometimes I lost the attention with the grammar.

**Sicarius19;  
><strong>

I am really honored with what you said, honestly I wasn't expecting such compliments. First I want to welcome you to this story and I appreciate the suggestions about the grammar and all of that. Yes, time is the essence and I never thought on rushing any kind of relationship, well, maybe MantisxViper just a bit(who I'm kidding?It will take a lot of work yet..)but the hole CranexShen thing is tough, it's out of question to rush anything between them and Crane x Mei Ling will be even harder since Mei Ling...well, she doesn't believe that Crane actually has something for her. And Po x Tigress...gez, it's not easy as I thought it would be, it's similar to Crane x Shen(note that Po and Tigress already have a friendship while Crane and Shen are slowwwwllly building one) and I'm sure hta Pox Tigress will crack me and there's the point of how Shifu will react to all of that because...you better read the chapter then you'll understand. Thanks a lot for the review. I'll try to not be late on the next update.

**White Tiger, Alpha Tiger;**

Thanks a lot guys!I'm happy that you liked!

**MaryR;**

Wow, I was writing the replies when you throw the review, first welcome to this story and I'm really thankful for your kind words, I hope I can live up to the expectations on the next chapters.

It was curious to see how logic and destiny didn't have any relation with each other. Shen made everything to change his fate but it were the actions to change it that resulted on it. The peacock was wondering with himself for long minutes if, indeed, everything he did before his fall at Gongmen was filled with errors and mistakes. He was wrong all this time?About everything?

The peacock's pride and arrogance were remarkable, but for the first time on decades they were being affect. Shen never felt wrong about anything, being always confident and determinate he never let doubt blind his actions. But now...he wasn't so sure about what to do.

The only thing that he was sure was that his parents weren't the way that normal parents should be, the peacock never felt the so-called love from them. The Soothsayer insisted on saying that his parents did love him.

***Flashback***

_"They never loved me!I could see in their eyes...only disgust and shame. They didn't took care of me because they loved me, if I wasn't their son it wouldn't be hard for them to throw me away like scum!" Shen yelled with fury at the old goat while she was changing the old bandages from Crane by new ones._

_"You insist so much on that thought, that they were ashamed of you for being albino. It wasn't true Shen, they were just afraid of you." She said smiling sadly._

_"Afraid?" Shen's eyes widened."Afraid of what?!"_

_"They were afraid that you would become what you are now. Cold, heartless, uncaring, severe, malicious, simply..." The Soothsayer hesitated a moment apparently with no real intention of continuing her description. But Shen wanted her to finish it._

_"Simply...what?" Shen felt uneasy._

_"Simply...a criminal."_

_"I'm no...I..."_

_"You're not?Then maybe killing several people and destroying an entire village can be considerate normal, isn't that right?" Her voice was harsh._

_"I did what it was necessary, only what it was necessary."_

_"Can I ask you just one thing?" The old goat asked while still distracted with the avian's wounds._

_"Yes." She made eye contact with him before speaking._

_"Why did you thought that a panda would be most logical threat to you?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Shen, I thought you were smarter. A panda?I'm not one to judge but if I had to think the way you do a panda wouldn't be my choice of a threat of any kind._

_"You can't be so sure."_

_"And you were?"_

_"Well he won, didn't he?!So I was right."_

_"You're still alive and you didn't change at all. Nobody won. Maybe it wasn't the panda. Who knows?Maybe he's still out there."_

***End Flashback***

If there was something that Shen really regret that would his premature decision on choosing the panda's village as the one with the black and white warrior. The peacock only wondered about this possibility on the day that the old goat came to see him again before he was taken to the Jade Palace. Shen was confuse since the old goat said that he didn't lose but also didn't win. And also that she was curious to know why Shen, being so powerful and intelligent, thought that a chubby panda would be the one to destroy his dreams.

Shen walked for few minutes in the Hall of Heroes contemplating the several remarkable values that were laying inside of it. But none of those were enough to distract him from his disturbing thoughts.

_'That old witch must know the answer, I know that!I need to find her and demand the truth for once!But how?She's_ _probably somewhere around Gongmen City. It wouldn't be the easiest task to find her but not impossible at all. I just need to be careful.'_

The peacock left the Hall of Heroes to observe the village from the top of the thousand steps(of annoyance) wondering which would be the best way to leave the valley.

Paddy fields and canals are numerous in the area surrounding the houses below. Several river junks can be seen navigating the canals around the village.

_'Hum...perhaps I should take the most simple way.'_

**Few hours later...**

Crane had finish his painting and went to the kitchen to eat something before taking a nap. Surprisingly he found Po, Tigress, Mei Ling and Monkey already there.

"What are you guys doing here?I thought you all were at the village." The waterfowl asked while taking a seat at the table. Po served him something random to eat.

"Well, we were but..." Mei Ling hesitated.

"But?"

"Hum, yeah...well...I think we may have a problem Crane." Po said while pretending to be calm.

"Problem?Like what?" The waterfowl asked confused.

"Ehh, well Crane, you see..we were.." Started Monkey but Tigress cut him off.

"The peacock fled from the Valley, we saw him in a boat going down the main river." She said for once not being interested on wasting time with indirects.

Crane's beak fell open. He couldn't believe it!Shen had run away?Why?The waterfowl did something wrong or the peacock just lost his mind?

"But...why didn't you guys tried to stop him?!" Crane said frustrated. Po and Mei Ling looked down to the ground embarrassed.

"Because if we tried he probably would kill us. So I told them to let him go." Tigress said not feeling any guilty at all. Crane frowned at her.

"That's not true!Besides he would never hurt Mei Ling!" Tigress raised and eyebrow.

"How could I know?Or even better...how could _you_ know?Do you really think that he's going to change his nature all of sudden?You're just wasting time Crane, let him go away. It's better for everyone."

Crane raised slowly from his seat. He was so angry with Tigress that he felt that he would never even look at her again.

"I made a promise that I would take care of him. I rather die than break that promise. I'll go after him, alone. I'll be back before sunset."

The avian left the kitchen without ceremony. Tigress snorted at the crane's attitude. Po couldn't help but feel terrible, few minutes later he left the kitchen. Despite everything Crane was his best friend and the panda was going to help him no matter what.

Mei Ling remained motionless and thinking with herself. She didn't feel ashamed, she made no promises to anyone at all. She didn't trust the peacock and hardly she would. Sure, they spent some hours together but to her that wouldn't erase what Shen had done in the past. It was too much to expect that Crane would help Shen to change his ways. Even with the help of Po that would be difficult. Sometimes Crane was too soft for his own safety.

In the mean time the waterfowl was about to fly to the direction were Shen had gone but before that he heard Po calling for him.

"Hey!Crane!WAIT!I'll go with you!" The panda screamed while running into his direction. Crane groaned.

"No Po, I'll go by myself. You would just slow me down."

"Ahh, common, that's not fair!Besides I'm also responsible for Shen being here. You need me, you know that!" Po said undignified.

"I don't think so..." Crane responded vehemently.

"HEY!Don't be mean, I wanna help!" The panda replied offended by the avian's words. Crane sighed.

"Arghh!Fine!...hold my legs, we're going already."

Po did as he was told and with extreme effort Crane flapped his wings and lifted the heavy bear from the ground. The avian flew to the south the fastest he could.

"Whoohoo!I'm lighten than air!" The panda screamed excited as he saw the village below them.

"Not to me!" Crane responded harshly while concentrating all his strength to carry the panda and flapping his wings the fastest he could.

"Do you have any idea of where he went to?" Po said while scanning the ground below with his eyes.

"No, but we should follow by the river to...wait!It's that him?" Crane suddenly said pointing with his beak to a small shape walking towards the nearest bridge of the village.

"I guess...let's take a look!" Po suggested. Crane agreed and descended directly to the unidentified form. After few seconds Po released Crane from his grip and landed softly on the grass. The waterfowl let out a sigh of relieve when Po let go of him.

Both avian and panda stared at the albino peacock resting with his eyes closed next to them. Apparently he saw them coming and decided to lay a bit to rest.

"Shen!What the hell are you doing?And where were you?" Crane asked with some anger and disappointment.

"Well, I was trying to leave the valley." The peacock replied naturally as if that was no big deal. He kept his eyes closed enjoying the heat of the sun.

Crane knew what the answer would be but, after hearing Shen confirming it, he felt more incredulous than before.

"What?!So...why did you come back?" Po asked feeling curious by the sudden change of idea from the peacock.

Shen opened his eyes slowly. His beak opened few inches while wondering if he should answer or not. After few moments he spoke.

"My...boat. He...wasn't really very reliable."

"Huh?" Was all that Po could say back because he didn't quite understood. But with Crane that went differently because it was clear that the waterfowl was smiling.

"There was a stupid hole in the stupid boat panda." Shen said nervously.

Nobody said anything after that. Crane and Po only stared at each other while preventing Shen to see them laughing. But the peacock knew they were making fun of him.

"I think I'll go back to my room." Shen said while walking away from them. Crane's laugh died instantly.

"Your room?I think that-

"You better shut up." Shen said back with a death glare. Crane didn't let that affect him.

"It's my room, not yours. If you want a room for yourself then you just have to earn it as a student. Nothing would make me feel better than having a room only for me again." Crane retorted with a smirk.

"For you and Mei Ling I think..." Shen muttered evilly. Crane's face went red instantly, but if it was from anger or embarrassment it was impossible to tell.

**1.34 hours later...**

Crane and Po returned to the palace right after Shen. The waterfowl felt lucky that Shen's boat had sunk so miserably. But Crane knew that later he would have to go back to sleep with Shen again and the peacock would make everything to antagonize him before sleeping. Much to his surprise he saw Mantis and Viper walking around the palace when normally Viper would be with Tigress and Mantis with Monkey.

After what happened Crane didn't want to get near Tigress again. She let clear that she would never considerate having the peacock as a member of the palace. It would be a miracle if Tigress could even considerate Shen as a living being.

With Shen in his room the waterfowl went to Po's room only to find him talking with Monkey. The waterfowl knocked at his door.

"Who is it?" Came Po's voice from inside.

"It's me Po, can I come in?" Crane replied annoyed. It was a bit odd to ask who was it since it was very easy to see the shape of the person outside the room.

"Yeah, sure. Get in Crane." The panda replied. Crane opened the door and saw the panda sitting at his bed with Monkey next to him hanging over his own tail.

"Hey Crane, what's up?" Said Monkey." I think that it isn't so hard to catch a lost peacock after having his boat gone, right?"

"I believe that Po already told you about what happened." Crane said looking at the panda. Po smiled embarrassed.

"Yep, he did. Any idea of why he tried to run away like a chicken?"

Crane gulped nervously. The room where Shen was sleeping was right besides Po's room. Those paper walls were terrible to obstruct sounds.

"So...what were you guys talking about?" Asked the avian in an attempt to change the subject. Po and Monkey eyed each other before answering.

"Err...maybe it's ok to tell to you if your promise to not tell anyone." Po said staring severely at Crane.

"Okay...about what?" Crane asked being surprise by Po's seriousness.

"Well, the thing is that I...well...I..."

"Po has a crush on Tigress." Monkey said with a chuckle.

For a moment Crane thought he misunderstood what the simian said, after few seconds the information finally got through him.

"Tigress?Really?Wow, that's..."

"Weird, I know." Po said with sadness.

"Not really, just unexpected but I can't blame you. She's admirable indeed." Crane said while sitting next to the panda.

"Nah, you're being sarcastic, aren't you?" Po replied with a tiny smile. Crane couldn't help but smile too.

"Honestly just a bit. But that's nothing to be ashamed of, I think that you two being together would be really good for both, especially her. Po...if you want to have something with Tigress I'm afraid that helping me with Shen wouldn't make any good to that. So..."

"So you want to take care of Shen alone to leave me more concerned about relating with Tigress?" Crane's beak opened on amazement by the spectacular deduction of the panda.

"You knew I was going to say that?" Asked the impressed crane.

"Ehh, you were?Oh, actually I was going to ask you to do that for me." Crane sighed heavily.

"I should know...but yeah, I'll do it for you...pal."

"Wow, that's...awesome!Phew!Thanks Crane!You have no idea how bad I would have felt for leaving you alone with Shen. I owe you one!"

Crane was happy for making Po feel better but the avian knew this would mean double work and double time with the peacock.

"That's surprising." Monkey said while looking at the waterfowl with wonder. Crane looked back at the simian frowning a bit.

"What is surprising?" Crane asked.

"You to not be surprise by Po having a crush on Tigress and dispose to spend more time with Shen only to help Po. It's suspicious." Crane rolled his eyes.

"I'm just doing what best friends do, help each other."

"Yeah but..."

"But what?"

"If you spend more time with Shen...how you're going to get anything with Mei Ling?"

Crane felt he was blushing while looking at his two friends.

"Guys, look...if I get, whatever you think, with Mei Ling or not it's my business, ok?So don't bother with that."

"Alright, suit yourself. Speaking on crushes do you think that Mantis feel something for Viper?" Wondered Monkey. "I mean, it's rare to see him walking around with her and he's doing that a lot lately."

Po and Crane took a moment to think with themselves before answering.

"Wow, what's going on?It's spring or something? Suddenly everyone is having a crush on someone." Po said impressed by the so many possible relationships.

Crane didn't answer. Po was absolutely right. Po has feelings for Tigress, apparently Mantis for Viper and Crane for Mei Ling.

"Yeah, it's weird, who is next?Wanna bet Po?" Monkey laughing while thinking on other people who could get into a relationship.

"Humm, you could be the next." The panda suggested looking at Monkey innocently.

"That's true but so far I have no girl to be wondering about. Who else then?"

"Errr..Shifu?" Monkey chuckled.

"Master Shifu?It will be really hard for that to happen. Only if Shifu decides to have a relationship, and besides-

"Well then...Shen?" This time Monkey didn't laugh.

"Honestly Shen wouldn't get a girl not even if he wanted to, what girl would be crazy enough to have anything with him?Well, maybe a Wu sister." The simian suggested at the end but with extreme doubt.

Crane's nervousness increased a bit when Shen came part of the conversation again. Luckily the peacock would be sleeping and wouldn't hear a thing.

"Ok guys, I think we discussed enough about this, I'll see you later." The waterfowl said while leaving the room.

"Til later Crane."

"Yeah, careful with you-know-who." Monkey warned but Crane ignored him.

The waterfowl left the dorms and went outside to distract himself. It was night already and the moon was brightening so intensely in the dark sky that it was hard to see the stars around her.

Despite everything that Po and Monkey said Crane still couldn't help but feel bad about his future in the Jade Palace. He just reminded few hours ago that Master Shifu has rules about relationships. The number one was...well, it was enough to ruin big part of the _fun_ in a relationship. The number two was terrible too, no relationships are permitted inside the palace. Which means that only _outside_ the Jade Palace two living beings would be able to behave as a couple. Number three...

In Crane's case number three was valuable as number one and two. No relationships _between_ students.

The first day Crane heard about those rules in particular he didn't mind them since he would only focus on the kung fu. After twenty years he admit that those rules were starting to let him nervous. If he tried anything with Mei Ling the avian would break instantly two rules at once. If there's something Crane would never do is broke rules. That's why it was so rare for Crane to get punished for something.(what happened with the Training Hall wasn't exactly his fault)

Would Shifu do something terrible if he, theoretically, finds out that Crane and Mei Ling were dating?Would Shifu banish them both?And what would be of Shen?Since there would be no Crane to take care of him Shifu would sent the peacock to jail or worse?

As long Crane lives in the palace he will have to follow the rules, if not then it would be better for him to start packing. The waterfowl felt his head hurting a lot. If he had decide to stay at the academy so many years ago all this wouldn't be happening.

_'Life is never easy, no matter how much you try to do something right it will always get complicate at the end.'_

The waterfowl walked until later night wondering what would be of him on the next weeks, for how much longer he would be capable of supporting the pressure of Shifu's rules and the stubbornness of Shen. Crane was hoping that Mei Ling would be his valve of escape to the stress the bird had been through in the last months. Now she just turned into one more reason for the avian to be stressed.

_' I'm getting too old for this..I really am.'_

Crane returned to the dorms quietly since most of the others were sleeping. Before he could enter the hall and move to his own room he saw Mei Ling on a corner. She made gestures for the avian to join her.

"Why you're still awake?" Crane asked after approaching of her quite enough to whisper.

"I was wondering were you was, I didn't saw you return to your room. You know that I get concerned sometimes, like back at the academy. We would always look for each other. I was just worried." She replied feeling silly for worrying so much. Crane's expression softened a bit.

"I'm okay, besides this place is far different from what Yunnán was many years ago. No need to worry." Mei Ling nodded slowly.

"You're right about that. Jien, about what happened at the Training Hall..." She started but Crane wouldn't let her felt guilty for that.

"No, no, no. It's ok, it was my fault. I should have kept an eye on you. I'm responsible for you being here anyway. It's just that...sometimes I forget that we're in the Jade Palace."

"Me too," She said looking at the nearest wall."I wonder if we can be the same like before."

"The same like before?" Crane was curious. "What do you mean?"

"A team, you and me fighting out there and doing the right things together and having fun after succeeding." Crane chuckled nervously.

"Oh, that...err...I do something like that with the others but we don't have fun at the end, just more training."

"Really?So you guys pretend to train for the rest of your lives or you're gonna use it for good?" She asked. Crane realized that she got tense all of sudden. She wasn't with her pretty and charming face anymore, she was severe and cold. That scared Crane a bit.

"I...well, not really. Its' just that Shifu has rules about-

"Rules?What kind of rules?" The mountain cat raised her voice forgetting that they were close to the rooms.

"Just one rule and another about...things." Crane was getting nervous and he didn't want to be around her anymore than necessary. The way she looked at him was terribly similar of Tigress's expression. For the first time Crane was seeing her other side.

"What...things?" Mei Ling forced a smile but that didn't fool the avian. Crane knew that Ling has a rebel side but the worst that could happen would be if that rebel side had developed after so many years.

_' I'm so screwed.'_ "I-It's not big deal, I'll tell you about the rules I promise but can't it be tomorrow?" The waterfowl pleaded.

_"*sigh*_ Alright, tomorrow then. I still need to know who's gonna be my teacher."

"What?What a joke, only could be Shifu. Nobody else here is better than you at point of teaching you anything. You're aware of much more stuff than half of us together."

Mei Ling blushed a bit at the compliment.

"Um, thanks...I...guess we should sleep..right?" She said unsure of how to react properly. Crane felt a lot better for knowing that his compliment was well taken by the mountain cat.

'_At least I don't suck that much.' _"Yes, good night Ling." Crane said walking towards his room. Mei Ling followed Crane until his room and keep moving towards her own at the end of the hall.

"Good night...Jien."

Crane slowly closed the door and turned around to see Shen sleeping deeply at the other side of the room. The waterfowl steeped carefully to avoid making any kind of noise. After taking his hat and leaving it on the floor he placed his head under his wing.

"Took you long enough."

Crane almost let out a gasp of surprise. He retrieved his head under his wing to see Shen staring at him from his bed.

"Why you never sleep when I'm not in the room?" Crane asked with annoyance.

"I dunno, and honestly it doesn't matter. Where were you?Walking around with the cat?"

Luckily it was too dark to Shen see Crane's face reddening.

"No, I just met with her when I returned. Get back to sleep, we have a lot to do tomorrow."

"Oh, yes. Your training lessons. Honestly I hope that you know what you're doing." Shen closed his eyes and faced the wall again. Crane let out a deep sigh.

_'Me too.'_

After few minutes Crane fell sleep but not Shen. The peacock was staring silently at the other avian while playing with a small metal blade that was hidden in his wing feathers.

'_You're still alive and you didn't change at all. Nobody won. Maybe it wasn't the panda. Who knows?Maybe he's still out there.'_

Those words echoed in Shen's mind several times in the last few hours and even more while looking at the crane. The peacock had the feeling that this crane could very well be the warrior. The blade was awaiting anxiously for its victim but the peacock had no clear intentions of launching it.

'_If I was mistaken about the panda what guarantees do I have that I can't be mistaken this time?...but I will find out...soon.'_

**A/N: Well, in case of errors please tell me, and have a nice week!**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Well, here's another over 4,000 word chapter(I can't keep doing those every week)WARNING!THIS CHAPTER CONTAIN SCENES WITH EXPLICIT VIOLENCE AND BLOOD. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PEOPLE UNDER 12.**

***Who's gonna stop someone younger than 12 of reading this anyway...* **

**To the replies!**

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

Well Charlie I was amazed with your deduction, too bad that the one who's gonna act stupidly won't be her.

**Sicarius19;**

Thanks for the review. I use Notepad(My windows is fake 7)

**Anonymousrules;**

Thanks!Glad you catch from when the flashback came.

**Shooting Star;**

Well, there's still a long road to know about that.

**Unilever;**

Yeah, that's right!I'm happy that they're larger but takes too much work. And you surely can expect drama in next chapters. The tension will only grow.

**Synchronized harmony;  
><strong>

Thanks for the review, as I said on PM she would do that to annoy him anyway.

**Huntress4455;**

Yeah, they're addressed but only that for now. Oh and I'll try to bring more focus to PoxTigress in the next chapter I promise.

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

Well, I already answered most part of your doubts on PM, but I forgot to say that Crane never went to look for Shen after the paecock was defeated, Crane found him by accident.(please don't come with the 'there are no accidents' stuff.)

**International-Wonderland;  
><strong>

Well I'm glad!I hope I can keep the humor.(it's getting harder)

**knapper11;**

Yeah, I do intend to bring his father but that's WAYYYYyyy to far yet.

**Unrealistic23;**

Let's hope he find a way.

**strange dude;**

Thanks! :P

**XdIAZ;**

HAhah, LOL!

**_SPECIAL THANKS TO:_ Shen's General a.k.a Shen's Follower for helping me a lot with the construction of this chapter. I would have never done it without you, THANK YOU!**

When Crane thought during weekend that things couldn't get worse he discovered that he was very wrong.

**Monday- **

(Morning)

Crane and Shen went to the training hall. The waterfowl already was feeling a bit nervous since Shifu called his attention. Crane forgot to tell Shen that the peacock needs to awake at the same time as the others. It was hard to convince Shen of doing it that way since Po wasn't much of an example by awakening 10 minutes later.

When reaching the Training Hall after breakfast Crane started with basic training. Balance and patience were elementary. Shen has the balance but the patience...well, not at all.

After few hours Shen learned how to keep balance while spinning with his wings and tail opened at the same time. It wasn't much anyway because his wings were short, but still before learning he wasn't able to keep them open along with his tail.

(Afternoon)

While Crane thought on what else would be useful for Shen's personal style Monkey and Mei Ling came in to challenge the peacock to a sparring match with swords. That would be potentially dangerous, but the albino bird accepted even knowing that he wasn't experienced with swords. Crane distracted himself looking at Mei Ling while she was sparring with the peacock when the waterfowl should be watching Shen . Few seconds later of sparring the peacock accidentally cut his own tail with a wrong movement of the sword(much to Monkey's happiness). After missing several precious feathers he let go of the match.

(Evening)

Shen locked himself in Crane's room feeling much embarrassed with himself for the terrible display of earlier(and that his tail was looking odd with the cut it received) and wasn't willing to come out for dinner. Crane saw no way to change his mind then brought the peacock's dinner to his own room. Much to his dismay Crane had to keep along with the peacock to make sure he would eat since Shen wasn't willing to cooperate with anything since the accident. It was the peacock's fault anyway, Crane couldn't believe he had to babysit the Lord.

**Tuesday- **

(Morning)

After awaking the peacock at the right time Crane was wondering if it would be possible for Shen to fly. Logically that wasn't even a possibility, but Crane was well experienced to know that kung fu challenges the logic in many things. Too bad for Crane that Shen literally lives through logic. After being laughed at and called insane the waterfowl lost completely the interest on that idea. The crane trained along with the Five at the course while Shen watched them.

After training they had a free time before lunch. Crane used this opportunity to finish his painting by placing it outside and getting some inspiration. Without him knowing Monkey, Mantis, and Po would be playing a game were they would be throwing water bags at each other, and while Crane was getting some more ink Monkey, who was aiming for Po, accidentally nail the painting with a direct hit. In attempt to cover it up, they soaked the surrounding area to make it look like there was a quick rain while Crane was inside. The waterfowl returned few minutes later.

"Wha..." When Crane saw what was left to his painting he nearly fainted. The avian approached of the ruined picture trying to understand what happened. He saw the around was all covered in water, it wasn't much but it seemed enough to cause damage to his work. The waterfowl recovered his material with a depressive expression.

(Afternoon)

Crane was getting tired of Shen being disrespectful towards his style. Having heard enough he went to the Training Hall to show to the peacock that the crane style was worthy of learning and wasn't a base of femininity.

"...so I guess I can show you what I'm capable of," Crane said to the peacock while directing himself to the arena next to the Training Hall." Would you mind to help me with the demonstration Ling?" The waterfowl asked to the mountain cat that was following them.

"Me?Are you sure?" She said back with wonder. Crane nodded."Alright, don't blame me if you get hurt..."

"I doubt of it. Besides it's nothing serious, I just want to show Shen how this style can be applied in a fight."

Mei Ling and Crane stood on opposite ends of the arena positioning at their personal stances. The waterfowl made the first move.

Crane took to the sky instantly as Mei Ling leapt into the air to meet him. Mei Ling, with staff in hand, then swung with ease at Crane, who barely dodge it as Mei Ling fell to the ground, but then she landed on her staff and leapt back up again at him.

"Miss me?" She said at the surprised avian while starting an assault on the avian by jabbing him constantly with her staff. Crane, being on the defensive, tried dodging every jabs and managed to block some of them but, unfortunately, one jab hit him in a weak spot at the shoulder of his right wing and send him to the ground.

_'I should have told her to not use the damned staff.' _The avian though harshly with himself.

Crane landed on the ground somewhat nicely, as he then tripped a little to his knee, as he rubbed his hurt shoulder, however, Mei Ling didn't stop as she quickly land with grace and speed at Crane with quick swings of the staff.

Crane got up instantly as he dodged each swings and after the last swing Mei Ling taunted;

"Come on, Jien! You'll know as well as I do that you can't win staying on the defensive!" But Crane smirked.

"Don't you know? That defense is a great offense?" The waterfowl said as he reared his wings and blew strong gusts of wind at the mountain cat, catching her off guard as she blew back a bit in mid-air, and as she did so, Crane then jump-kicked her in the jaw, blowing her further into a wall, smashing it into dust clouds.

Shen watched with slight admiration at the avian's use of the wind as he then stared at his wings and then his fan tail(that still had a visible cut)._ 'I wonder if it would work for me...'_

As the dust cleared, Mei Ling picked herself from the rubble, and spat a bit of blood from her mouth and wiped it off trickling from the corner of her mouth. Luckily for her Crane hadn't seen her injury otherwise he would've stop the sparring at the same moment.

"I got to say, you have improved! But now, it is so on!" She said with a challenging glare while grabbing her staff.

Mei Ling charged at Crane, who was about to defend, when she pole vaulted over him and smack him hard in the back.

"Ouch, that really hurt!" Crane glared at her as he rubbed his back.

"Well, consider that payback for the cheap wind tricks!" Mei Ling sneered back as she twirled her staff and began swinging it effortlessly at the bird.

"Cheap wind tricks? Ohohoh, this is what I call a cheap wind trick!" Crane dodged her swings then twirled his wings around and as if he caught the wind. He swung it at Mei Ling and, with another blow of wind, the staff blew out of the mountain cat's hand, and following up on it, he did a jump kick on Mei Ling's midsection, pushing her back a bit.

She snarled as she look at her staff and quickly cartwheeled to it, while avoiding a follow-up downward kick by Crane, and then with all her strength did a strong uppercut with her staff right at his head, knocking him to the ground. The resulted impact was impressive even for Shen who was observing.

Mei Ling panted, knowing that she had beaten him.

"Same old Crane, always taking an easy hit. And I thought you actually had learn something." She said joking. Crane was barely conscious at the moment, but he was still able to hear clearly, those words hit hard his pride. Suddenly he felt all his anger and frustration of the last days fill his head like burning lava.

Mei Ling went to pick him up, when suddenly, the bird shot up in mid-air, staring at her with hurt eyes.

"WINGS OF JUSTICE!" Crane screamed the loudest possible as he spread his wings, and as if a sudden burst of strong wind happened by, he blew a powerful gale, causing everything not-bolted down to move.

Shen struggled to hang onto a rock._ 'What in the name of...that's something I would want to learn...'_

Mei Ling also struggled to brace herself as she got to her knees and started to claw down on something as her staff got blown away, far away.

Crane, still angered, shot down at her like an arrow and Mei Ling was starting to get anxious.

"JIEN!" She screamed but was interrupt when she got rammed by Crane into the Training Hall, smashing through splintering wood. Crane got up and panted, and gasped at what he had just done, as he saw that his friend (not-to-mention crush) was laying motionless on the floor. Everyone that was training inside of the hall stared in shock at mountain cat that seemed unconscious.

"No...what had I done?" Muttered Crane with himself feeling terrified.

While Crane entered through the hole that Mei Ling's body created he saw the cat raising slowly from the floor and turning around to stare at him. The waterfowl stopped dead at his tracks when he saw the stare she was giving him. Crane now couldn't see any difference of Mei Ling from a Wu Sister.

_'I have a bad feeling about this.'_ Though the avian while taking a step back and placing himself on a defensive stance. Shen entered the Training Hall by the front doors and observed the scene calmly. A cold silence filled the room.

Everyone stared apprehensively at the mountain cat while she glared at the avian with unspeakable rage that could clearly be stronger than Tigress would ever be able to achieve. She already has a few scratches on her arms from all the rubble.

"Mei Ling?..." Crane said nervously being frightened by her behavior.

The cat gain a fearsome smirk as she unsheathed her claws, something that Crane never seen her do before, and as if a predator lunged at its prey. Mei Ling charged at him with a roar as she bullet punched Crane hard on the side of his head into a pillar.

"Holy Buddha!" Screamed Mantis. The others around the bug stared at him oddly."What?"

Crane sputtered as his beak filled a bit with blood but Mei Ling then right hooked his face to the ground as Crane gripped his face, but then the waterfowl's remorse disappeared and was replace with hate. The bird quickly got up and swung his balled-up right wing into her lower midsection (hammer arm style), and a crack sound was heard as the cat groaned.

Crane was about to hit her with his left wing, but Mei Ling actually CAUGHT it in her mouth and, with a sickening crush, she broke the wing with her bare hands.

Crane let out a cry of agony escape from his beak as he tried to pry her mouth open. The waterfowl punched her with his left talon directly in the face breaking her nose and prompting her to let go. Mei Ling started swinging her claws at him while Crane, bracing his broken wing, started swinging his talons in retaliation.

Mantis and Monkey watched in horror while his friend was getting the hell beat out of him and vice versa, and swore to never ruin another painting of his as long as they live. Viper watched with fear as she saw the cat mercilessly attack Crane and was half tempted to leap in to stop her.

Tigress was in shock and admiration of both of them as she never saw her avian friend get so angry and this wild side of Mei Ling, suddenly the feline tiger thought that she usually was the one called hardcore.

Po would have thought this fight was half-awesome and half-scary but he was too busy covering his eyes as the fight escalated. Shen however had interest, never before had he seen the two go at each other like salvages and he felt the temptation of smiling but it would be unwisely while in the company he was with.

While keeping her merciless assault on the avian Mei Ling accidentally lost her balance when her left leg didn't catch any floor to stand on. She fell into the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion. For her bad luck the others were training recently at this course and everything was operational at the moment she fell.

When she got on her feet several wooden metal-spiked clubs swung at her and managed to cause severe injuries. The mountain cat screamed as she felt her back and left leg get deep cuts and her right hand take a terrible blow crushing her fingers.

Crane saw what happened and snapped out of his state of anger. Mei Ling's back has been cut so badly that all the area around got covered in blood. While the waterfowl stood still in shock Tigress decided to bring him back to reality.

"ARE YOU GOING TO STAND THERE LIKE A IDIOT OR YOU'RE GONNA HELP HER?!"

Crane blinked for a second while seeing the mountain cat trying her best to dodge the spikes.

_'...to be struck by the long metal spikes on the back is to meet an instant agonizing death...' _

Luckily Mei Ling didn't got a direct hit but still her back was looking pretty bad.

_'If I go there I'll certainly die, I can't block them effectively with only one wing.'_ Though the avian while approaching the course. Then he remembered something he said to Shen few days ago.

_'...I would die for her, you heard me!?I would die if that could save her!..' _

"So be it."

The avian jumped inside the course and instantly got assaulted by dozens of wooden-spiked clubs. He blocked them with his good wing while trying to reach Mei Ling. The cat that only had her arms to protect her while being unable to move because of the injured leg.

Then what Crane feared most happened, he was attack by the lower clubs and that would be difficult to avoid since he couldn't fly few inches off of the floor and jumping wouldn't get him anywhere. The bird let out a terrifying scream when one of the lower clubs hit hard his ankle braking it.

"We need to help them!" Po screamed in panic moving forward. Tigress stopped him at the moment. "What are you doing?They need our help!"

The feline stared silently at him then back at the course.

"They can handle it." Was all that she said.

"But..." Po was skeptical about such, but since Tigress definitely wouldn't let him go the panda had no choice but wait.

Crane was doing all he could to keep the spikes away from him. Using his good wing and leg multiple times to defend and walk at same time was proving to be a challenge, and that was taking too long. Finally having enough he did the only thing he could think at them moment.

_Destroy the course._

At each second that passed it was few clubs destroyed by a single blow of Crane's leg. After few seconds he finally reach the place where Mei Ling was and pushed her to the cleared area filled with dozens of pieces made of wood and metal.

Crane got several cuts and lots of his wing feathers were missing. All the others rushed inside to aid them quickly. Mantis when directly to check the cat's wounds.

"I'll need someone to carry Ling to her room. I can do better from there. Po?" Mantis looked at the panda expectantly.

"What?" Po said back intrigued by the bug's stare.

"Can you carry her?"

"Uhmm..."

"What?"

"It's just that...she's bleeding so much and..."

"You're not scared of blood, are you?" Tigress asked him with annoyance. The panda chuckled nervously. "I'll take her, let's go Mantis. AND YOU!" She screamed at the crane laying on the floor with a pained expression. "Don't even think about leaving this place until I get back!"

Everyone else was extremely silent until the tiger left with Mantis and Mei Ling.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Snapped Monkey at Crane. The waterfowl was feeling so much pain that he barely heard what Monkey said.

"Give him a break Monkey, he's not feeling well." Viper said defending the avian.

"Well he shouldn't be anyway, did you see what happened?They were almost killing each other!I never saw Crane throw anyone through a wall before!And who could thought he would do that such thing with Mei Ling?!It's insane!" Monkey replied hysterically.

"True Monkey, but you saw her reaction?I mean...I got the chills just by seeing it, and when she went over Crane I thought that..." Po hesitate and stared around uncomfortably.

"What?" Viper and Monkey asked with curiosity. Po seemed very uneasy.

"That she...was going to eat him."

A deep silence filled the room.

"Po...that's...seriously you just have a creative mind, that's all." Monkey said trying to calm the panda and even himself.

"Perhaps he's right," Shen finally let the words came out after long minutes."What we just saw there was the demonstration of natural instincts. That's what they are when they don't use their intelligence."

"So you finally decided to talk with us?" Monkey wondered with a frown. Shen ignored the simian.

"What do you think that Tigress is going to do with Crane?" Viper said concerned about the avian.

"Nothing." Po said. Everyone stared at him in bewilderment.

"And why would it be that way panda?" Shen asked sarcastically.

"You'll see, our biggest problem will be when Shifu see them both and asks to us what happened. Anyone got any excuses?"

"What?You really think that there's a logical or even possible excuse for their injuries?!" Monkey said angrily. Po flinched his fingers together nervously.

"Well...we could say that messed up while passing through the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion and got severely hurt, besides that's partially truth, isn't?"

Monkey and Viper shared at stare.

"Sounds good."

**Meanwhile... **

Tigress and Mantis were in Mei Ling's room, Mantis using acupuncture needles on the mountain cat to help ease the pain, while Tigress was looking for some medical supplies after having covered the deep cuts and the broken fingers of the cat with several bandages, then Crane come limping in, all flustered and grunting a little as he was also badly injured.

"I thought I told you to stay back at the hall!" Tigress growled angrily at the avian.

"Will she be okay?" The waterfowl asked to Mantis ignoring the female tiger.

"It's too early to tell, you and Mei Ling did a number on each other, I'm quite surprised by how you manage to keep going. I never knew you to be a high-stamina kind of guy." Mantis said, while sticking Mei Ling with another needle, prompting a gasp from the mountain cat.

"Mei Ling..." Crane said as he bent down (grunting a little as it hurt a lot to bend down at his state), "I-I...never meant to take things so far..."

Mei Ling, opening one of her eyes, weakly smiled, "Don't worry, Jien, this is nothing..." She grunted a bit, "I took a lot more than what you gave me before, although I must admit, you really kicked my tail back there." Crane chuckled.

"Oh please, if anyone kicked someone's behind, it was you," As he looked at his injuries. Then Mei Ling let out another gasp of pain, as tears started to fill her eyes, making Crane's heart ache even more than it had.

"Okay Crane, it's about time that you leave." Tigress ordered as she was about to shove the bird out. Crane was about to make a meaning retort but the mountain cat came to his aid.

"Please don't!" Mei Ling cried out, everyone stared at her surprised "I wouldn't mind it if Crane could stay at my side, can he? Please?" She finished with a innocent tone.

Tigress gave a look at Mantis, who in turn shrugged. Crane was clearly shocked to hear that Mei Ling still wanted him to be on her company. Tigress let out a sigh of defeat.

"Fine, but only for few minutes" Tigress returned to retrieve more medical supplies for the waterfowl.

"I'll be right back to check on you Crane." Mantis said to the avian while leaving. Crane nodded and closed the door behind them. He turned around to face the cat.

"So...I guess you want to know why I was so harsh during the spar..." The avian was clearly ashamed of himself. A huge sense of guilty was crushing him in the inside.

"Well, I think that can be for later, can you bring me something to eat? I made a lot of effort out there and I really need my energy back."

_'What?You can't be serious, you're laying there almost dying and you want something to eat?!'_ "I guess you're right, I could have something too..." Crane said while opening the door of her room. "I forgot of why we sparred anyway..."

"Don't you remember? We were demonstrating for Shen. I wonder where he's at?" The mountain cat pointed out.

_'Who cares?'_ "I don't know, but he can wait." Crane replied. "I'm don't feel strong enough to deal with him anymore for today. He just hit my nerves sometimes."

"I guess you got carried away anyway." Mei Ling chuckled referring to the spar.

_'Way too much'_ "Yeah, I guess I did." Crane laughed back. It was a good thing to know that she still had that remarkable ability on taking things lightly. Well, at least _after _taking a beat.

Crane left the room with some difficult since his ankle wasn't very stable at the moment. Thankfully he had enough practice in those last years to decrease the pain of certain injuries. Much to his surprise he found Shen standing still at the end of the hall.

"What do you want?" The waterfowl asked with annoyance. Last thing he wanted was to Shen nag him about what happened few minutes ago.

"Nothing, I assume she'll recover, right?" He replied innocently. Crane nodded. "That's good, I hope you don't take too much time to recover too, we have so much to train after all."

Crane raised an eyebrow at this remark. Shen opened the door of Crane's room and before entering it he turned to the waterfowl.

"Well, if you don't mind I'll rest a bit. Seeing you two fighting made me feel tired. Until later...Master Crane."

Crane's beak opened a bit in slight surprise as the peacock entered the room and closed the door. Shen _never_ called him by that, appears to be that Crane earned a bit of his respect after the sparring.

**A/N: Well, maybe things go better from now on...now we'll have to wait to see if Crane doesn't get into more trouble in the next chapter, have a nice week!**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: If there's a word that can define the last chapter it would be "Wow". Yes, I thought the same after seeing the final results, but at least something different happened and that can provoke many changes in the future, but the wonder will grow even more.**

**Now I got myself into a lot of trouble last week, and to make things worse...my PC blew up. So anything that I had planned is gone. This chapter suffered few remakes from the original one. Now I'm sorry if it's shorter since I wasn't expecting to lose everything right before updating so...sucks.**

**Anyway this chapter would be kind of short since I'll make a time skip on the next one(not much time, don't worry)I hope this is enough, it's getting harder and getting me tired honestly. **

**Blackshadowbutterflys;**

Yeah, it's good to not rush things or slow them down excessively. Shen warmed up but that goes for Crane.**  
><strong>

**WFeathers;**

He, I should have explained why that happened, but I think that you can find the answer in Charlie's review.**  
><strong>

**Shen's General ;**

Thanks for the warning, life is messed up like I said. The cubs ARE deadly and I seriously doubt that Po would be injured since nobody would want to see blood in such kind of movie. In this fic things are more...realistic.

**Huntress4455 ;**

There were few...but it's great that not many to take point. :P Thanks!**  
><strong>

**Charlie ;**

LoL, yeah pretty much. And thanks for the suggestion about Shen's sword fight. I knew that Shen is an expert but I like to make the readers think deeply when reading something odd. :P What?You were bored?The hell with you! XD

**Anonymousrules;**

Thanks!I'm glad!**  
><strong>

**Synchronized harmony;**

About spinning...he didn't spin, only tried to move the sword with his wings but since the object was heavier than what he's used the blade got his wings carried away backwards and cut his tail. Lol, yeah. That's what Monkey thought after the fight ended.

About Slash pairings...it's ok if you're not a fan, but in this fic it will be something different from that.**  
><strong>

**MaryR;**

Wow, that a lot! :P Thanks or the compliments, but I guess I couldn't update the last monday due..problems. I hope that doesn't happen again. Thanks for the review and I really don't mind about how much you type. It's really nice.**  
><strong>

**hidden stranger ;**

Hey there stranger...where were you hiding? :P Well, I'm not sure if I've seen you before but welcome!Thanks for reviewing and I hope I can live to your expectations on the next chapters.**  
><strong>

**TheWhisperingWarrior ;**

Oh, yes. It's gonna be large indeed. Thanks for reviewing.**  
><strong>

**Sicarius19;**

He had a lot of anger building inside. In fact I was expecting him to snap earlier...he can be the most patient but he's not made of stone. I hope he don't get punished, poor guy has too much to handle already.**  
><strong>

**Alpha tiger;**

Well not only about the painting but several others things in the last days that lead the avian to lose control. Crane is tired of the humiliation and disrespect, and pretty much the act that everything goes wrong to him.**  
><strong>

**Fenrir;**

Lol, glad you found it funny.**  
><strong>

**_Special thanks to:_**Shen's General a.k.a Shen's Follower for helping me with this chapter, again thank you!

Shortly after sunset Crane was at Mei Ling's room watching over her injuries and his own too. Mantis left few moments ago after treating Crane's wounds. The avian was so worried with his friend that he didn't bother to eat anything since lunch.

With a broken ankle and a broken wing Crane would take 2 weeks to recover. Mei Ling's injuries weren't much worse, she would be back in full strength after a week.

There were many things concerning Crane at that moment, the most important being Master Shifu. Surely the red panda would be shocked and disappointed, but the worst would be if he was going to punish any of them for what happened. It wouldn't be unfair since Shifu doesn't accept lost of control during sparrings or training since they 're trained to contain such.

Deep inside Crane didn't care about punishment, the only thing that matters for him at the moment is the mountain cat. While staring thoughtfully at her injuries Mei Ling slowly opened her eyes. She took notice of the avian right besides her with a blank expression.

"Huang?" She said weakly. Crane jumped a bit being startled by her words and groaned, it wasn't necessary to say that such movement caused an enormous pain coming from his broken ankle that was being held firmly by bandages.

"Ling?Y-You're awake...are you...alright?" The avian was still afraid of a possible negative reaction of Mei Ling to him.

"I've been better," She said lightly."And you?"

"I'll be fine, can you stood?" Crane replied with a chuckle.

"I prefer not to, I think I'll keep this way until tomorrow. Speaking of it...did Master Shifu asked you what happened?"

By the look in her eyes Crane knew that she was really worried about what Shifu would think about their shameful behavior.

"Not yet, but when he do it so...well, I'll deal with it."

"What do you mean with that?" Mei Ling was confused about the waterfowl's answer.

"It means...that the fault is mine."

"Huang..." She tried to reason with him, but Mei Ling knew that he was right.

"I never thought I would do such thing..." Crane said more to himself than to the cat. Mei Ling was about to reply but decided not to."...I mean, doesn't make sense, it wasn't logical, it wasn't right."

"Jien, maybe you're overloaded with emotions you know. Stress, nervousness, worry...fear." She finished cautiously.

Crane shrugged, but he knew that her opinion was concrete.

While the bird stared at the paper wall Mei Ling was distractedly thinking with herself. Few minutes passed until the door of the room opened revealing Shen.

"You need anything?" Crane asked without looking at the peacock.

"It's night already, dinner will be ready on few minutes." Shen informed formally.

"Ok, thanks Shen." Crane said back. The peacock nodded slightly and closed the door.

"What was that?" Mei Ling asked in amazement.

"What?" Crane didn't get her question.

"I'm talking about Shen coming here to talk with you." She said while rolling her eyes.

"There's anything wrong with that?"

"Besides the fact that he seemed so social and friendly?No, not really..."

Crane frowned at her sarcasm. Maybe Mei Ling wasn't thinking positively about Shen as Crane was expecting.

"He improved in the last days, I'm not sure of how much...but he did." The waterfowl stated firmly.

Mei Ling didn't want to argue with Crane about Shen so she remained silent. After few minutes the avian left to his room before directing himself towards the kitchen. He found Shen in there sleeping, but Crane was already used to the fact that it wasn't true. Shen only really sleeps when Crane is there sleeping too, that made the waterfowl wonder why. It was odd.

"How is she?" Crane smiled when he heard Shen's voice.

"She'll be fine, I'm sure she will." The waterfowl said intensely.

"What's wrong with you?You seems anxious."

Crane wondered if he should discuss the reason about losing control during the spar.

"I...before losing out, Mei Ling...it wasn't her fault!I know she didn't mean it, but...I've been through a lot in the last weeks and after being humiliated so many times I just...had enough of it."

A deep silence followed his words. The peacock was carefully analyzing the situation.

"What she said to you?

"Nevermind, I don't want to talk about it." Crane said, quickly regretting about entering in this conversation.

**30 minutes later...**

After dinner Tigress left to talk with Shifu about the incident with Crane and the mountain cat. Much to her anointment Po followed her to make sure that Tigress wouldn't say anything unnecessary.

"We have to tell him, Po." Tigress said, as Po was trying to plead with her.

"Come on, Tigress! If we tell Shifu this, they will get into not only trouble, but giant, enormous, hell, even ginormous TROUBLE! Crane is already in hot water for what happen with the Training Hall and Mei Ling. I bet that bringing Shen here is on his list as well. Are you willing to risk reducing the Furious Five and Mei Ling to...just Furious Four?"

"What?NO! Er...look, if there is anything Shifu doesn't tolerate, it's lying. I know you're worried, but I'm sure Shifu will understand." Tigress reassured

"And if he don't?" Po wondered.

Tigress was about to rebut but even her was unsure of what to do, sure she was used to covering for Po whenever he screwed up, but he was Po and this time it was Crane and surely Po never severely injured a Kung Fu master.

She could only but imagine how Shifu would react, but Tigress knew what would happen if they lied to him. She was at a karmic crossroad, if she covered for Crane, they can forget the whole incident, except in case Shifu finds out, then it could result badly for not only Crane and Mei Ling, but also for them. If she tells Shifu, he could merely scold Crane and Mei Ling for getting rough, but it could result in Shifu separating the two indefinitely, and Crane would forever hate Tigress for it. Maybe it wouldn't hurt if they left a few parts out...

"Look Po, we will tell Shifu using that idea of yours, but we will leave out how they got there, so it is a compromise, deal?" Tigress asked.

Po nodded sighing relieved, as they both head off to tell the grandmaster.

"So...leaving this whole mess for a moment," The panda started while they were crossing the arena in direction to the Hall of Heroes." I was thinking..."

Tigress was so interested on reaching the destination that she didn't bother to pay much attention to his words.

"Huh?" The female tiger replied pretending that she was listening.

"..hum..I was thinking that..you and me could, you know...find some time to walk and talk about...things." Po was getting incredible red while speaking and the nervousness in his voice was clear as day.

Tigress barely understood what the panda said so she remained silent. Po wasn't sure if he should continue or wait for an answer. After few moments the panda decided to try again.

"Hey, I also was wondering if you..err..would like to..err. _'Gahhh!Would like to what?!I have no idea of what to do!' _

"I'm sorry, you said something?" Tigress asked turning her attention towards the panda. Po smiled sheep-silly and looked around.

"Huh?Who, me?No...nothing at all."

"Alright then." Tigress entered the Hall with Po right behind her.

_'I'll need some help about this.'_ Po thought while looking at Tigress discretely."Hum, Tigress.."

"Yes?" She said back.

"Is there something going wrong between you and Crane?"

Tigress stopped abruptly causing Po to crash on her and fall backwards.

"What are you talking about?" Tigress asked surprised by the question.

"Don't get me wrong, but...you two are behaving very oddly towards each other."

"Define 'odd'." Po was hesitant about clearing things out that way.

"It's just that...well, you and Crane seem to be...tired of each other."

**Meanwhile...**

Crane returned to Mei Ling's room after dinner to bring her something to eat. He had an odd conversation with Master Shifu few minutes ago. Apparently Shifu was informed that Crane and Mei Ling suffered an incident while training together and go severely hurt. Crane knew that Po had something to do with that story and the waterfowl was thankful for his help.

The avian found Mei Ling sleeping quietly at her bed. Not wanting to wake her up he left the food next to her bed and turned around to leave. Right after that he felt something hit him hardly on the back of his head and everything went black.

"Well, well, thanks for the food Jien, but you don't really think that I would let you go like that, do you?" The mountain cat said smiling evily while sitting down to eat the food that Crane brought. "I think I know what to do with you."

**Few minutes later...**

Shen went out of Crane's room wondering why the avian wasn't there yet. He went to Mei Ling's room to ask her if she saw the waterfowl. He knocked the door of her room few times and waited.

"Who is is?" Came the cat's voice from the inside.

"It's Shen, I wanted to know if you saw Crane around." The peacock responded.

"Oh, don't worry. He will sleep with me this night, he's insisted on watch over me."Mei Ling said back with a chuckle.

"Alright, good n..hum...ok."

Shen returned to Crane's room with a weird smile over his face. Apparently Crane was getting more _comfortable_ this night.

**Next morning... **

The group of warriors woke up immediately after the loud, but distant sound of the bell. Everyone went outside to greet the red panda that was waiting for them at the entrance of the hall.

Normally the day would have started like any other, but during the first few seconds of observation it became clear that something was way too wrong.

Nobody realized the expression that formed on Shifu's face. At first it seemed comic, but then it turned scary. The grand master fell unconscious.

"Master Shifu!" Screamed some of the students. Tigress, Viper, and Mantis hurried to aid their master while Monkey and Crane stood still being surprised by what happened. Shen was surprise too but didn't express any concern about the red panda. Instead he eyed the Crane at the end of the hall. The expression that Shen made was too much similar to what Shifu did few moments ago. The peacock got shocked and impressed at first, but then he felt his face reddening and a terrible urge to laugh.

While trying to figure out what happened with their master Tigress glanced quickly at the hall. What she saw made her completely forget about Shifu and stare oddly at the crane that was in front of Ling's room. It wasn't the fact of how many bandages the bird had over his body but...

Soon after Tigress reaction all the others noticed her disturbed face and looked at the same place the tiger was staring at. Their expressions were priceless.

In the mean time Crane was feeling weird and confuse about why everyone was looking at him that way. The waterfowl had awoke few moments before disoriented and with a great pain in the head. He couldn't remember what happened last night so he assumed that he returned to his room to sleep early. While coming outside he felt lighter and much more comfortable when walking, even with his ankle on bad shape.

Only when the avian left the room he realized that something wasn't right. He stared directly at Master Shifu at the end of the hall when normally he would be standing in front of Viper.  
>Before the avian could think more better of the awkward situation Master Shifu fainted. Everyone (except Shen and Monkey)rushed to help the red panda but soon stared back at the avian as if they had never saw the bird before.<p>

Then Crane heard someone walk next to him. He turned around to see Mei Ling with the prettiest and charming expression he had ever saw before. Then her expression became ironic. She stared at him then lowered her eyes slowly. Crane followed her stare, what he saw nearly made him faint too.

His pants were gone.

The avian felt his beak hit hard the floor while the air in his lungs seemed to have turned into stone. He tried to move but he had no senses anymore. His mind was blank and for a moment he forgot how to speak.

With a major impact the avian understood the situation with great disbelief. He came out naked from Mei Ling's room in front of everyone one! Which means...

"Dude..." Started Mantis. Even the bug seemed uncomfortable. "...you were so desperate?"

Wasn't for the shameful situation Crane would have killed Mantis right there. The only thing the avian could do instead was to stare at him confused. The others felt even more embarrassed with what Mantis said and not even Viper was willing to censure the bug's words. Shen in the other hand was enjoying everything, but also was Mei Ling.

Ling smiled evilly while appreciating her personal revenge. She wasn't worried with what would happen with Crane, if Shifu asks she will tell the truth of everything, the mountain cat only wanted to submit Crane to an unspeakable and frightening situation. This would compensate the pain he caused to her. Now they were even.

"Here you go." Mei Ling said to Crane while holding his purple pants on her hands, smiling teasingly while doing it so didn't make the situation better at all. Crane was so confused that he took his pants back and silently went to his room closing the door. Shen decided to wait outside to give the crane some privacy. The peacock chuckled about giving Crane privacy.

_'Maybe he got much more comfortable than necessary...'_

**A/N: Thanks for reading and for the patient, have a nice week!**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: The update..sorry for...I can't even say sorry without feeling terrible for that...**

Minutes later Master Shifu recovered his consciousness and immediately was informed about what happened before asking. Mei Ling explained to the red panda about her play, but she couldn't tell the why of such joke. Shifu didn't find it amusing and that added him to the small group of people who disliked of the play.

Of course that Crane wasn't aware of who did that to him, even so that didn't stop him from being extremely angry and not bothering to talk with anyone. The waterfowl locked himself inside him room refusing to leave or letting someone entering it. After being warned by Shifu to not repeat such display again the mountain cat let a tiny smile of guilty appear. For her it was an innocent play, but apparently in here that wasn't how they treat it.

Tigress was one of the most shocked when Crane appeared without his pants, but after hearing Mei Ling excusing herself with Master Shifu few moments later she had to admit that the cat was somewhat troubling.

Mantis and Monkey in the other hand applauded Mei Ling for the incredible talent she had to make people embarrassed through 'indelicate' ways. At first the both had thought that the avian had finally got the guts and made his move, but later they were laughing so much and nearly died from lack of air.

Viper wasn't sure of how to react at the moment, when she saw Crane she turned her attention away soon as she could. Being aware of what Mei Ling did let the female snake at doubt.

Po was the only one that was worried with how the avian was dealing with the situation. The panda tried to dialogue with the avian, but Crane was too ashamed to let anyone see him. Even Shen was isolated from Crane's room, the peacock didn't believe that the waterfowl was a victim of a cruel joke, but after facing the great possibility of sleeping at the hall Shen started to change his mind about it.

The waterfowl still wasn't aware of who did the joke. It couldn't seem unbelievable ,but the last person he suspect of was exactly the mountain cat.

Mei Ling wouldn't be feeling bothered about telling Crane that she was the one to be guilty of what happened, she strongly believe she made an innocent and friendly play.

Shen was determined to bring Crane outside, or at least let the peacock get in. He knocked at Crane's door furiously.

"Open this damn door already!" Yelled Shen aggressively. "It doesn't matter for me if you feel bad about having the rest of your dignity taken away from you, I just don't see why I have to suffer too!"

Crane groaned painfully in response. Shen just couldn't realise how things were.

"just leave me alone." Was all that the waterfowl cared to say.

"Fine then!I'll let you laying miserably while thinking if you're gonna forgive her someday."

Crane wondered what the hell the peacock was talking about.

"What are you saying?" The waterfowl asked. Shen let a smirk lose out.

"Well, you obviously knows that it was her who prank you, isn't that right?"

Crane opened the door abruptly, an expression of bewilderment covering his face.

"Tigress did that?!" Shen raised an eyebrow.

"I though you were smarter...no, she didn't. Despite of how much resentment that developed between you two in the last weeks, it wasn't her."

"How you kn...nevermind, so...it was Viper?!"

"Are you that stupid?" Crane didn't answer. "It was you dear friend Mei Ling."

"What?!"

The waterfowl clearly didn't believe in what he just heard. Crane knew that Mei Ling could play one time or other, but she never would do such thing risking to hurt his feelings like that. At least not on purpose.

"She wouldn't do such thing, in all the years I lived int he academy with her she neve-

"Humiliated you on purpose?" Interrupted the peacock with a questioning stare.

'How the hell he could be thinking what I'm thinking?' "Exactly."

"I see."

"You know...believing on such things, especially coming from you...it's that simple." Crane expected Shen to be offended by his words, but surprisingly the peacock only smiled.

"Of course, it's not everyday that a psychopath murderer like me tells you about who made you lose your pants."

For a strange moment Crane though that Shen's voice had come out heavier than it should for a sarcastic remark.

"Ok, so...Mei Ling pranked me...what you think I'll do?"

"I don't care." Shen said simply.

"Huh..ok. Then I guess I should go ask her if she wants to come with me and Po to the village, we-

Shen frowned at the crane, normally Crane or any other would, or should feel offended by what happened.

"Aren't mad at her?" The peacock asked being amazed on how Crane took well that it was Mei who took his pants during morning.

"A bit, "Crane confessed. "It was a good joke anyway. She really got me."

Shen's expression was comic. He made and saw many horrible things , but nothing impressed him more than what happened right now. To see Crane forgiving Mei Ling so easily made the peacock wonder if the panda was being honest when he forgave Shen for killings his parents and destroying his village.

"Can I ask something?" Shen said after a moment of silence. Crane shrugged.

"Say it."

"How can you forgive her so easily?"

The waterfowl smiled and at the door.

"It's simple."

"How so?" Shen asked being extremely curious.

"I love her."

At the end of afternoon Crane was returning to his room, but then he saw the mountain cat entering the hall. Normally he would have greeted her, but something kept him at doubt. Mei ling saw him too and went to talk with him.

"Hi Jien," She said timidly. "Listen, I...need to talk with you, if you don't mind."

"Huh?" 'Why would I mind t...oh, right.' "Of course not, you..want to talk about what?" The waterfowl replied vaguely.

Apparently the female cat wasn't dispose to talk whatever it was at the middle of the hall. She dragged the avian to her room and closed the door carefully.

"Jien, I was talking with Tigress and...I want to apologize about what I did to you this morning."

Crane could sense that she was being truly honest and felt deep remorse for the incident. For some reason Crane wondered if he could take advantage of the situation, of course that it wasn't part of his nature to do things like that, but he got tired of getting kick and retaliate with kind words.

Mantis once told him about women that sometimes would do anything for forgiveness. Of course that when Crane asked what exactly they would do Mantis just tried to change the subject.

Now the waterfowl was in one of those situations and probably wondering what he could get from Mei Ling.

"Really?Apologize how?" Crane asked with a smirk. Mei Ling frowned.

"Well...what do you want me to do?" Before Crane could think carefully he responded instinctively.

"A dinner, just you and me." 'Argh!I can't believe I just said that!'

Mei Ling's eyes widened, she found it odd and surprising at the same time.

"Alright..when?"

"Today."

"What?!"

"I guess I can forgive you another day then." Crane turning around. Mei Ling sighed heavily.

"Fine, fine...where?"

"I have an idea, I'll let you know when ready."

Mei Ling nodded. Few seconds passed silently.

"Jien." Ling said.

"Yes?"

"Get out of my room please."

**Meanwhile...**

Shen was having a leisure stroll through the valley after a disturbing morning. The peacock felt he couldn't stand few more minutes in that place without losing his mind.

_'Defeated by the warrior of black and white...could that crane actually be him?' _Shen couldn't stop wondering about the possibility.

He remembered how vicious he fought Mei Ling back in the hall, knowing that if angered, Crane could be a worthy adversary. He merely sighed at the irony that the warrior happens to be one of the same species.

His thought was interrupted when he heard flapping. He probably thought it was just Crane, and merely said, "Relax, Crane, I am just taking a stroll, not running away."

"Really? The infamous Lord Shen just taking a stroll? God, how the mighty had fallen." A female voice said.

Surprised by the new voice, Shen turned around to find an owl, looking at him with an amused look.

"Who are you?" Shen asked with suspicious.

She smirked as she said, "Where are my manners, I am Fenghuang, former Kung Fu Master."

"Former? What happen, you managed to get your master's nerves?" Shen smirked.

"No, I was banish because that damn idiot of a turtle said I meant to betray them, I got angry. To make matters worse...Shifu betrayed me, he was my best friend, and he betrayed me..." Fenghuang explained, with a bit anger and disappointment.

Shen was suddenly intrigued, this owl had almost the same story as he did, someone forsee a bad future for you, you try to change it, and you get yourself exiled. He could actually understand her a bit.

"How unpleasant." Shen merely said.

"If you say so. I had long forgotten about those fools...and I moved on with my life." She said, "So, what brought you here, Lord Shen? Kind of a odd place for a warlord to hang out."

"Oh..." Shen said embarrassed, "Well, I am not technically a lord anymore, the panda made sure of that."

"Panda..." Fenghuang said, as she remembered with a moist of anger how her last attempt to take over the Jade Palace was thwart by the 'Dragon Warrior', but then she shook it off as she said, "Really?"

"Yes, it all started..." Then Shen told her of how the whole Gongmen incident had transpired, beginning with the prophecy and ending at the part where he was supposedly crushed by his own cannon.

"...After that, I would have been dead, if the crane hadn't found me and helped me to heal. Now, I am currently training under him at the Palace." Shen finished

Fenghuang was amazed by all this, she knew that Lord Shen had an interesting story, but now his life was messed up. She even felt jealousy and incredulity that they were willing to let the homicidal warlord into their halls and not her because of the excuse that Oogway said about her would betray them. It wasn't fair in the least.

"I see, perhaps we can get to know each other better in the future, I'm looking forward for a new meeting Lord Shen." The owl flew without looking back. Shen just stared while she left, she didn't seem too old and has a good taste for clothes. Maybe he could try to know her better after all.

**2 hours later...**

When Crane said to the mountain cat that he had an idea of what to do he couldn't have said a bigger lie. The waterfowl wasn't really sure of what to do. Maybe he could go after Mantis for advice, but Mantis wasn't someone who you could relie safely when the problem was to do a romantic occasion, but of course that the bug was the only option that Crane had since he hardly believe that Po or Monkey would be better options.

Maybe Mantis wasn't a reliable option, but this time Crane would give the bug a chance to prove that he could do something especial and not for his own gain. Despite of how Mantis could be 'indelicate' towards womans Crane was confident that the bug would lead him to a safe and successful dinner that would turn into a remarkable moments in Crane's life. If good or bad...that would depend.

Crane found Mantis in the kitchen on the company of Monkey and Viper.

"Hey Mantis, can I talk with you for a moment?" Crane asked formally.

"Sure thing Crane, hang on just a second, I'll go check something with Monkey, I'll be back soon."

The two left while chatting discretely about whatever it could be. Crane rolled his eyes, probably the two were up to some new way to get into trouble.

While the avian was distracted thinking on what Monkey and Mantis could be up to this time Viper took the opportunity to talk with him alone.

"Hi Crane." She said being much kind as possible.

"Hey Viper." Crane replied distractedly.

Viper realized that the avian wasn't paying much attention to her so she decided to push the talk a bit more.

"So, how you're doing with Shen?"

"Uh?Oh, Shen..yeah, he's..doing well. I think. At least he's not yelling so much as before."

"That's good to know. How's your ankle?Still hurting?" She said looking at the avian's right feet.

"It's doing well, it's only my wing that bothers me," Crane said adjusting the bandage that was keeping his wing steady. "Can't do much with this."

"You know...weren't you scared when the cat grabbed you that way?" Viper asked looking at Crane's eyes intensely. The waterfowl found the question odd.

"Scared?Wha..what do you mean?I wasn't scared, just..concerned."

"You ever though she would hurt you that way?And also humiliating you right after?"

Crane was starting to wonder where Viper was trying to take this conversation. Her voice was becoming heavy and harsh.

"I need to go, I wonder why Mantis is taking so long." Crane was very interested on getting away from Viper now, but right after leaving the kitchen she spoke one last time.

"She doesn't deserves you, besides you can have better."

It was like someone had hit Crane with a heavy hammer directly at his head. He couldn't believe on what he just heard. Not only Viper had no like for the mountain cat, but she let clear that none were worth of each other. He now felt that he couldn't trust Viper, neither Tigress.

Before Crane could return to his room at slow speed since his leg was hurting a lot Shen came out of nowhere and stood silently in front of his. His silent stare was enough to make Crane feel uncomfortable.

"What are you doing?" Shen asked with suspicion.

"Taking a walk?" Responded Crane innocently.

"Taking a walk...listen, do you think I'm a fool?I heard you talking with the snake."

"So?"

"So it's clear that your list of friends is decreasing fast. First that Tiger, then your master, and now the snake. It's really interesting, the fun part it's to know how's next."

Crane felt disgusted by how Shen was playing with his misery.

"The hell with you."

"Now, now, no need to be rude. I'm here to advise you."

"About what?"

The peacock was intending to let things follow their natural course and see Crane digging a deeper hole in his own life. Much to Shen's own bewilderment he felt bad for thinking on such thing, it wasn't normal for the peacock to felt regret by something he hadn't even done yet.

"About your dear snake friend."

"What about her?"

"It's clear to me that she's trying to confuse you."

"Confuse me?I'm not confused, just a bit surprise, that's all.

"She is trying to lure you."

"Uh?" Crane was getting really confused now.

"What I'm trying to explain for you little brain to understand is to not let that snake confuse you more than you're right now."

Crane blinked few times.

"To not confuse me more than I already am...that just confuses me more. I don't understand, Viper confuses me more or you?..."

This conversation was turning odd and the peacock knew he would have to be more explicit.

"Sometimes it's amazing how you play dumb in the most simple conversations." Shen said being a bit annoyed by the way things were going.

'Simple?!Simple what?!' "I'm not playing stupid ok?! I just don't get what you're trying to point at all!" Crane retorted losing the patience.

"The snake is making a move over you." Shen said while distracting himself with the nearest

"A move?..what kind of move?"

"I'm starting to have serious doubts if you'll get anything with the cat, seeing how dumb you are."

The peacock was taking advantage of Crane's curiosity by tormenting the waterfowl with several insults.

"She wants to set doubts in your head, especially about what you think of the cat. I believe there's only a reason for that."

"You know what?I'll go take a bath or something because I'm filled and had enough of your dirty mouth." Crane said turning around to leave.

"She's jealous."

The waterfowl stopped instantly.

"Of...?" Crane said without facing the peacock.

"Yes."

**Meanwhile...**

"So?" Asked Tigress when she heard the mountain cat walking behind the pillars.

It surprised Mei Ling that Tigress knew it was her and that the cat was there. Ling had entered the Training Hall testing her stealth abilities, apparently she would have to improve a bit more.

"I talked with him, and..." Ling replied while sitting at the wooden floor with her legs crossed. Before proceeding Ling waited for Tigress to finish her current training course. After the tiger managed to defend herself from the deadly spirals and jumped out of the course the mountain cat resumed her conversation."..and he wants me to dinner with him."

Unfortunately Tigress wasn't paying much attention and she misjudged what Ling said.

"To dinner him?!" Tigress said rather loudly while her eyes went wide open.

"Errr...to dinner _with_ him." The cat emphases while raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, right, of course," Tigress said blushing a bit."Sorry, I'm still in the mood of training."

"Uh, ok...anyway I wonder why he wants a dinner, it's not the kind of thing that he would ask me. When we were at the academy he wasn-

"Ok, that's it," Tigress said cutting her off. Mei Ling become silent instantly wondering what could have bothered Tigress."Listen, I may have no experience with it, but when a guy asks to go on a dinner with a women normally it's because he likes her."

"So?What's wrong with it?"

Tigress wasn't sure if Mei Ling was playing dumb on purpose or if she was avoiding admitting something.

"I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with it, but...I've been wondering about something between you and Crane."

"Cr..Jien?What about him?"

"Not only him, but also you." Tigress said hardening her voice.

"Me?What about me?" Ling said becoming extremely worried now.

"I'm not sure of how to say this, even so...have you and Crane ever thought about the possibility of being more than friends?"

Mei Ling reacted strangely to this. Her expression hardened, she clearly got tense. Her hands clenched into fists, she was balancing her tail with extreme intensity and she avoided to look at Tigress in the eyes.

"I'm don't know what you're talking about."

Wasn't for the fact that Tigress had become very friendly to the cat she would have scowled Ling for the rudeness.

'Watch it, I'm making a simple question, not threatening you."

Mei Ling felt tempted to leave, but Tigress wouldn't allow her.

"Don't you believe that Crane has feelings for you?"

The cat sigh in defeat, the question she wanted to avoid so much was made finally.

"I guess I can finally talk about this."

**A/N: Not sure when next update will be ready, maybe at the end of the month. Can't make promises.**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Alright, another delayed update, it's not easy to get inspiration back after a long pause like I had to do few weeks ago, but I hope I can recover it soon as possible. Even so I will update weekly only next year. Don't worry, we still have more 2 chapters to read this year. And of course I couldn't forget about the replies!**

**Huntress4455;**

Thanks for the support, I had promised next week(few week ago) but again got blocked by RL and couldn't make it, I hope to compensate now. I'm glad you liked of the last chapter.

**WoYoYo32;**

It's been a long time since I last saw you, it's nice to know you're still reading it, I hope to see you again sometime.

**Alpha Tiger;**

Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it. 

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

Thanks a lot for the support!Yea, I've been waiting for that episode for a long time(6 months) but got tired of waiting and I seriously have doubts that the episodes from this series will look 'nice'.

**Dragon's wing;**

I want to welcome you to the fic and thanks for the review, I hope to see you again.

**strange dude;**

What?I send no message, what are you talking about?Besides, you actually have an account?]

**Shen's General;**

I'm really thankful for all the help you been giving me in the last weeks, wasn't for you I hardly would have come back still in this year, I want to thank you for everything. And I'll try to read your fic again, haven't got much time lately.

Mei Ling sat silently on the wooden floor with Tigress next to her. To Tigress the cat seemed really anxious about having a conversation about the 'Crane' subject. Of course that the great leader of the Five never show real interest on talking about other people's life, but since what was happening between Crane and Ling could affect not only them, but also everyone else around it. Perhaps it wouldn't affect Shen and who could know what would affect the disturbed peacock anyway.

"It's...I'm not really sure of how to explain what I really feel about that," Ling said while staring at the floor sadly. "I wish I could throw that feeling away, but I can't..."

"What feeling?" Tigress asked hoping that the cat wouldn't hesitate much to answer her questions.

"I...the feeling I have for Jien. That I always had, since the academy," She said with some difficult to keep her voice firm.

"So you really felt something when you helped him to become a student, isn't that right?" Tigress was wondering if Mei Ling had an instantaneous crush for Crane or if it was something that developed.

"No, it was way before that," Ling said much to Tigress bewilderment.

"What?Before?You mean...when he still was a janitor?"

Now that was something different. Mei Ling had her eyes on Crane even before she knew what the avian was capable of.

"The day I saw Crane performing his skills while cleaning the training grounds, it was late night. I should be sleeping, but...almost every night I would stay up a bit longer to watch him. I never got enough courage to talk with him while being alone. What happened that night just gave me an assurance. I knew he was different, I knew he was especial. I just had to see that with my own eyes."

"And what exactly keep you back?" Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Crane spent several weeks together at the academy. Why you never tried to show to Crane how much you liked him?"

"Hum...I...well, it's..."

The mountain cat just seemed more lost than ever, Tigress wasn't the kind of person that would try to guess how someone would behave towards other that she could have an affection for.

"Perhaps you should try to understand more about your feelings before Crane's feelings. It's not like he's going to..." Tigress paused for a moment before finishing, a sudden realization coming to her mind."Mei Ling, do you really believed that Crane would reject you?"

The cat eyed the female tiger instantly, fear and embarrassment covering her expression.

"I...it's not like that. I mean, it wasn't..."

"Wasn't?" Tigress said noticing the fail on her phrase." Why is now?"

Mei Ling winced after realizing her mistake.

"Jien...it's that...he's different now, I mean...he's not just Jien. He's Master Crane."

"Are you saying that he's way too important now to care about you?"

"No!It's not like that!It's..errr..Tigress, for how long your pretend to keep on kung fu?"

That question caught the tiger off guard. Tigress tried to think on a decent answer, but nothing really good came to mind.

"I'm not really sure," Mei Ling nodded sadly.

"Well, I believe that my time it's running out already. I should start enjoying my life, or at least the rest of it. I have already acquired my objectives, now I only need to clear my doubts so I can live peacefully."

"That's interesting, and your doubt is?

The cat's face went blank for a moment before answering.

"Jien loves me?"

"Maybe there's something else you should look instead and clear of doubt before that one," Tigress said facing the cat severely.

"Like what?" Asked the Mountain Cat curious to know about what could be.

"The first thing you should know is...do you love him?"

**Meanwhile...**

"I HAD ENOUGH OK!?YOU, LING, VIPER, TIGRESS AND EVERYONE ELSE!STOP STRESSING ME FOR ONCE!"

Crane had reached to a collapse point were he couldn't hold his frustrations anymore, after being directly tormented by Shen in the last 2 hours he recently got several complains from Mantis and Monkey about his behavior in the last days that simple throw the waterfowl out of his normal state of mind. Now being infuriated it wouldn't be wise to get near him. Seeing the danger on the situation Shen had fled quietly while Monkey and Mantis ran away the fastest they could.

Shen believed that when Crane refereed to the mountain cat he was thinking on how much hard was to him to deal with his feelings about her while having to deal with everyone else around him, it was clear that he didn't mean that she was bothering him, but her presence in the Palace was making Crane much more concerned than necessary.

Po was at his room when he heard the yelling coming from the kitchen, he decided to check what was happening. At the same time Master Shifu was going to the same direction after having his mediation session interrupted by the screams.

Crane was brooking everything that was near him. In few seconds the kitchen was in a complete state of destruction.

The panda reached the kitchen and was amazed to see what happened there. Crane saw Po looking at him and felt annoyed by his presence. Right after feeling such Crane realized how much similar with the peacock he was becoming.

"Crane?Wha..what happened?" Po asked hoping to not make the avian angry. The waterfowl didn't respond, before Po could say anything else Crane decided to leave to kitchen without ceremonies.

Crane had just reached the door when Master Shifu showed in front of him. The red panda eyed the avian carefully and then turned his attention to the kitchen. Po smiled timidly to his master.

"Oh, hi...Master Shifu. We...we were.." Po tried to think on an excuse, but nothing came to mind. Shifu sighed.

"Po, how many times do I have to say? No sparring in the kitchen!I told you that four times already. I better don't need to say it again,"

"It wasn't his fault Master," Crane said on Po's defense after the panda made an undignified face. "It was mine."

"I don't care whose fault was Crane. Now you two better fix this kitchen before dinner otherwise there will be punishment for this indiscipline."

"Yes, Master," Crane said bowing. It was a good thing that Crane used a hat, if not Shifu would've seen the dark expression on the avian's face.

After the red panda left Crane just shrugged and left to his room leaving Po to fix the mess all by himself.

Much to Crane's dismay he found Shen inside his room. The peacock raised his head slowly while watching his room-mate at the door.

"Get out," Crane said coldly.

"What?" Shen replied being surprised by what he just heard.

"You heard me well, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

The peacock felt weird, it wasn't normal to see the other avian behaving like this, so much like...Shen. Not wanting to start a fight of epic proportions that would probably end on death, the peacock exited the room through the side door on the left that would take him to the panda's room, from there Shen would leave to the hall.

Crane closed the door with extreme brutality. Some noises indicated that the door wood had crack on few points.

Few moments later Mei Ling had returned to the dorms with Tigress, both seemed to be very busy talking with each other discretely and haven't notice the peacock laying on the hall until they were few steps away from him.

"Shen?What are you doing here?" Mei Ling asked surprised to see the peacock in front of her door. Tigress still didn't have no patience to share with the peacock so she entered her room without more words.

"Crane kicked me out of his room," Shen said smoothly.

"What?Why he would do such?" The mountain cat wasn't expecting to hear such thing, Crane was the one take care of Shen and now he was forcing the peacock to sleep on the hall?" Hum, listen...you shouldn't stay here. Maybe you can sleep on someone's else room."

"What a joke, nobody else has any thrust on me. They wouldn't let me in, at least not alive."

Mei Ling was feeling uncomfortable with the situation.

"Um..well, then why you don't stay on my room this night?"

"You can't be serious," Shen said with suspicious. This women couldn't be that foolish to risk herself with such psychopath like him.

"I am. Until you and Crane get well with each other again I believe there's not big deal on that," Mei Ling said with a chuckle thinking on what exactly 'well' could mean for Shen.

"Very well. I'll accept your offer."

_'Maybe well means anything that fits for his benefit, I believe,' _Though the cat while entering the room with Shen.

Shen entered the room silently. He eyed everything suspiciously. The peacock hadn't developed any conversation with the female cat so far, and he wasn't bothering himself to do it so. It surprised him tremendously that she would allow him to stay at her room at night.

Shen didn't want to think about such, but it was the first time that he would sleep with a female since his childhood. Of course that there weren't any foolish ideas crossing his mind right now. Any attempt to relate with the mountain cat probably would bring deathly consequences, coming especially from Crane.

"I hope you don't mind sleeping on the small couch, I hadn't got much things since I arrived." The mountain cat said gently. Way too gently for the peacock's taste.

Shen had to raise an eyebrow at her excuse. Besides her bed, the room was filled with stuff that Shen never saw before. Most where clothes and bags. Other were few especial items with considerable value, like jars and rare paintings. The peacock hatted to admit, but the mountain cat has a good taste for art and clothes.

"Hum, where's the couch?" Shen asked in the most formal way possible.

"Oh!It's...hang on," She said jumping in the middle of the mess and removing several items from a distant corner. "Here ya go."

The peacock approached of her and got amazed by the real size couch. It was almost larger than Mei Ling's bed.

"This?This is small?" Shen couldn't contain his irony. Mei Ling chuckled.

"Well, maybe for you its way larger than usual, for me it's reasonable."

Shen said nothing about that, he just got himself over the couch and set himself the most comfortable way possible, on a couch that size it wouldn't be so hard.

"You're not gonna get anything to eat before sleeping?" Mei Ling asked with slight concern.

"No. I'm fine."

"Ok, good night," The mountain cat was about to leave the room when she heard the peacock calling her name discretely.

"Mei Ling..."

"Yes?" She said turning around to face the avian.

"T-Th...thank you."

"...you're welcome."

The cat closed the door silently. She was amazed to see the difference on this Shen to the one on Gongmen City few days ago. Maybe Crane was doing some good to him after all.

Speaking about Crane...

The mountain cat stopped on front of his door wondering what had upset the avian so badly to force Shen outside his room. Mei Ling seriously doubt it was fault of the peacock, at least not entirely.

She knocked few times. No answer.

"Huang?You're there?"

This time the door opened, but slowly. It was so dark that Ling could barely see Crane's face.

"Ling?Do you need anything?"

"Hum...I presume you haven't forgotten about our..meeting this night, right?"

Crane winced, he had forgotten about the dinner for this night. After what happened earlier maybe he could enjoy some nice time with the mountain cat.

"Sorry, I forgot, but I got most things settle. Should I...get dressed?" Crane said becoming slightly red.

"What?" Mei Ling being incredibly surprised by the question. Crane shrugged.

"If I should wear any of those new clothes you gave me." He said sounding a bit tired.

"Oh, that...it's your call, you don't have to honestly. Unless you think it's a special occasion..."

Mei Ling said that on purpose expecting to get a clue of what Crane thought of her. The reaction to that wasn't surprising, but wasn't exactly what she expected either.

"Hum...special...yeah, perhaps...I...will get something to...dress." The avian seemed really lost and unsure. Maybe he wasn't on the mood for anything after all.

"Are you feeling alright?" Asked the mountain cat concerned about Crane's strange behavior towards an occasion that should have let him quite pleased and 'happy'. The waterfowl blinked few times and looked around carefully.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just give me a moment," Crane closed the door quickly and let the cat waiting for few minutes in front of his door.

Crane was acting very strangely, and Mei Ling wasn't the only one to notice. Since the incident on the Training Hall he seemed so different from what he use to be.

To turn the situation more odd than it was before Viper and Po had just entered the hall.

"Hey Ling!What's up?Why aren't you in the kitchen with the others?I just made some excellent-

"No, thanks Po," Crane had just returned and was standing still at the door next to the mountain cat that haven't noticed him coming out."Ling and I already have others things to do."

"Such as?" Asked Viper much to Crane's discomfort.

"I do not intend to answer your question at the moment," The waterfowl replied on the most political manner they have ever seen before.

Mei Ling was also feeling some discomfort with Crane's new personality. There were moments that the avian would act with seriousness and maturity, but now the way he was acting felt so cold.

Po was just watching the situation developing in front of his eyes. It wasn't normal to see Crane that way, a way that would make the panda feel a bit scared of him. Po respected Crane a lot and they're best friends after all. Although Po never told Crane that the avian was only his second favorite of the Five.

"Excuse me?" Viper said clearly offended and surprised by the answer that was given her. Crane didn't seem to bother with Viper's reaction. Mei Ling was hoping that things wouldn't get tense all of sudden.

The situation didn't become slighter when Mantis and Monkey also entered the Hall, and to make things worse Tigress was leaving her room at the same time.

"What's going here?Is this a reunion?" Mantis said when he saw everyone else in the hall late at night.

Tigress wasn't surprise to see all of them there since she heard everything from her room. The tiger kept some distance and just watched waiting for the outcome.

"No, it's- Started Mei Ling, but she was abruptly interrupted by Viper.

"Of course not! Now don't interrupt our conversation," She said with some irritation. Monkey and Mantis exchanged glances and looked at Po with questioning stares. The panda wasn't sure of how to reply.

"There's nothing important going on, we're on our way now," Crane said moving out of his room.

"Nothing important?" Crane stopped. It wasn't Viper who talked, it was Mei Ling. She seemed extremely disappointed. The waterfowl regretted of what he just said instantly.

"I don't mean about...I'm talking about the..." Crane tried to justify his mistake, but had no idea of how to do such in front of everyone else without giving them clues of what he and Mei Ling would be doing later. The cat keep staring at him with a saddened expression. That only made Crane felt crushed by the inside.

It doesn't matter if everyone else it's giving you a hard time, Crane should have felt more concern about caring with Mei Ling more than with himself. He knew that he was becoming something close to what Shen was few weeks ago and that would only make his life far worse.

Deep inside the avian knew that helping Shen while trying to express his feeling to Mei Ling wasn't going to be possible without running crazy. With Viper was against the Mountain Cat and Tigress against Shen both were unhappy with Crane, and Shifu having lost some sympathy he had for Crane, and Monkey and Mantis just keeping the same the waterfowl wasn't sure if he could call this place home anymore, it had become so hostile in the last days.

Crane felt like a stranger on a place that everyone knew him, but wouldn't really care if something happened with him. The animosity that was growing around Crane was starting to affect his mentality.

Despite being the oldest of the Five and the more experienced Crane never felt passing through such a hard time before like he was having now. It wasn't a challenge, it was a threat, not only to him, but to everything he dedicated himself in the last 20 years.

The only question was; could he handle the threat?

Crane looked around discretely only to discover that everyone was looking at him. That didn't make him feel better none a bit. A sudden noise on a corner made everyone turn their attention from the waterfowl to the other avian now present in the hall.

Shen stood silently at Mei Ling's door studying the scene in front of him. He felt tempted to pretend he was sleeping and not getting himself into this group meeting. Something that Shen could not describe gave him a reason to get up and face the intern conflict between the warriors of the Jade Palace.

_'Maybe I shouldn't have come out of the room, at least not from this one.'_ Though Shen while noticing the several suspicious looks he was receiving, especially from Crane.

"Perhaps you all would like to discuss that some other day, I do not intend to hear about your personal problems in a time we all should be sleeping," At this the peacock eyed Crane and Ling with seriousness since he knew they wouldn't be planning to sleep at all.

Crane was stunned. Did Shen really though that they would listen to whatever he had to say? Much to the waterfowl's shock Tigress was the one who supported Shen's point of view, even if with extreme reluctance.

"He's right, we should be sleeping. It's not the right time to be arguing, go to your rooms unless you want to get Master Shifu upset."

Everyone else hesitated for a moment before complying. Crane had no intentions to go sleeping and went to talk with the tiger.

"Sleep?What you're talking about?I can't sleep, I promised a-

Tigress gripped Crane's beak firmly making him shut instantly.

_"I know, she told me. And I'm not ordering, I'm just recommending. And don't let Shifu caught you two or you'll be doomed,"_ Tigress whispered menacingly. Crane confirmed with a blink of eyes and got released from the strong grip.

The female Tiger went to her room avoiding the panda on her way. Po seemed disappointed and went back to his own room. Crane returned next to the mountain cat that still seemed upset with Crane's attitude.

"Ling, I...I'm sorry about what I said. I couldn't say that in front of everyone, I mean...I kinda miss that nobody pays me any attention at all,"

Mei Ling tried to smile, but felt like having no strength to do it so.

"It's ok, I know that you're not used to be under that much of attention. Maybe you just need special attention," She said somewhat teasingly while moving her right hand down Crane's neck.

Before the avian could reply he heard a cough next to him. He turned around to face Shen looking at them with curiosity.

"Huh?Do you need anything?" Crane asked while pretending to be calm as possible.

"Yes, I believe you had kicked me out of your room." Shen said with a hint of anger. Crane smiled nervously.

"Oh, that...yeah. I'm sorry about it, I wasn't... yo-

"If you don't mind I'll sleep there, and if you do that again I'm gonna make you regret deeply," Shen threatened while getting inside Crane's room. He shut the door with unnecessary strength.

"So...where are we going?" Mei Ling asked still confused with everything that happened.

"I know a place. You'll like it."

**A/N: Ok this is all for, I'll try to update next weekend, if not the other one then, I want one more update before Christmas, have a nice week!**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Alright!Last update of 2012. I wanna thank all the people who have read this so far and I'm really happy for those who enjoyed it so far. I hope I don't get more delays next year, since I still got a lot to do. Even so I'll be here every time I can to keep this thing going forward, wasn't for you guys and some new friends I made it wouldn't have got so far.**

**Note: This fic will have 60 chapters.**

**2012-2013 # Special thanks to:**

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_** And all the 15,000 viewers...thank you.**_

There were many places around Valley of Peace that weren't discovered and remained as a secret from the civilization, only few fortunate were able to discover them, but it was Master Crane who have may found the most interesting of all.

Laying secretly on the lower areas of the Jade mountain there was a cave which entrance was extremely covered by wild and unexplored vegetation. Due the accidental terrain it wasn't possible to use the area for plantation and so remained untouched.

How Crane found this place wasn't really an interesting story, not on his own point of view. Few years ago while having a rare moment of rest from exhaustive training routines Crane went outside to get some fresh air. By flying around he explored the Valley on places that no one could reach, at least not by ground. Accidentally he hit a long branch that was coming out of the side of the Jade mountain. Instead of breaking the branch he removed it completely from its base revealing a small opening. After alleviating the pain on the head the went closer to investigate.

The waterfowl wasn't going to bother checking it out what he though to be just a small hole on the rocks. What really made him extremely curious was that he saw some strange light coming from inside of it. Crane saw many strange lights before, but this one was way too different from everything he saw before.

After what seemed an eternity he finally reached the chamber where the light was coming from, what he saw in there made him truly believe that the Jade mountain had something special after all.

Crane kept his discover on secret for several years, but he only came back to the cave one more time. Now after eight years he decided that it was time for a new visit, a special one.

The waterfowl was walking on the courtyard with Mei Ling right next tot him. The mountain cat was still apprehensive to what Crane had in mind for the night.

"We're we going Jien?" She asked not being able to sustain her curiosity for longer. Crane smiled.

"It's a secret, I never told anyone before, but...I think you'll like to know."

"About what?" Ling was now even more curious.

"Something I found a long time ago. Follow me." The avian lead her to the side of the mountain that was opposite from the village. After they reached the edge of the cliff when looking down there was nothing but darkness.

"Hum...got lost?" Mei Ling wasn't able to understand what Crane was trying to do. The avian remained calm.

"Not really, but it's harder to see in the dark the precise location...hold on my legs."

"What?!" Now Mei Ling was starting to get worried. Crane looked at her confidently.

"Trust me."

Mei bit her lip slightly. She didn't want Crane to think that she had no confidence on him. Even so she still had a bad feeling about whatever was going to happen. The avian flapped his wings slowly to gain some height to make Ling hold a grip on his legs without having to crouch.

With extreme hesitation she grabbed the avian's legs.

"Ok, here we go," Crane said. Mei Ling frowned.

"Go wh-

Before she could ask Crane flew over the cliff and both started to fall down into the darkness. The Mountain Cat almost lost her grip due the shock of what happened. After few seconds Crane decided to go airborne and decreased the speed of their fall.

"Can you see it?" Crane asked while flapping his wings the fastest he could to keep steady.

"See what?" Ling asked now afraid and confused.

"The light."

Ling wondered if Crane had turned crazy from day to night, she was about to protest when suddenly she caught something on her periferic view. It seemed like a small flash, after taking a better look she saw a small glow coming from the mountain. She was grateful for her good night vision because Crane would never be able to see it if he tried to find it alone.

"I found it..." She said in a whisper since she was extremely focused on the light.

"You found it?" Crane asked while breathing harder now. It's not that he could not carry her for long, but he wasn't exactly at his full health on the last days."Where?"

"Go to the left, but slowly. Just go few meters higher," She advised. Crane followed her instructions and quickly reached the entrance. Mei Ling jumped inside landing softly and Crane landed right behind her."What's that light?Where's coming from?"

The waterfowl tried to contain his excitement.

"You're going to love it, just follow the light," He said.

Mei Ling had no choice so she kept moving deeper into the cave. Crane was calm, but one time or other he couldn't hold a smile.

The cave itself was immediately lit up when a spark of light lit, as it reflected off the smooth glassy surface of the cave's content. The smooth glass in question turned out to be jewels of all kind, rubies, emeralds, jades, their color dyeing the light as it shown through the giant chamber.

There were treasure as far as the eyes could see within this cavern, lacing over nearly everything, especially the roots that sprouted in and out of the walls and floor. And if you were to trace the roots to its origins, you would be greeted with the sight of a beautiful oak tree, feeding off the meager sunlight that peeped through the small crack above it and the sunlight that bounced from the crystals. Several places on the floor had been filled with water and the light around the cave was making it bright a bit.

Mei Ling was purely astonished. She looked over everything to make sure she won't miss any detail. Crane waited few minutes before speaking with her.

"So...what you think?"

"How...?I never even could think that such thing could exist. Why this is here after all?" The mountain cat was way too impressed to think clearly.

"I really don't know yet, but I can tell how I found it."

Crane spent half an hour to tell the whole story about his finding. Making some pauses from time to time to answer some questions from the mountain cat.

"...and that's how I ended here," The waterfowl said finishing his story. Mei Ling was in awe with everything she heard, but still there was something bothering her a bit.

"Jien...why did you show me all this?I mean, nobody would do that such thing. It's obviously the most important thing you have in the world."

This time Crane hesitated, but felt like the answer was forcing a way from deep inside from his soul.

"Not really, there's something more important than a mystic cave with unspeakable treasures and magical environment."

"Nonsense," Mei Ling said joking thinking Crane was fooling around, but her smile faded when she saw that he had kept a straight face.

The avian's face hardened a bit. Crane wondered it the time had finally come and if he should tell her what he really feel about her. Wasn't easy to find a way to start. Many memories were burning inside his head and guilty was the one that was hitting him stronger. Why?Why after 20 years?Why only now?Why not before?Why not when at the academy?Would she get scared away?Did she had hard feelings about him leaving Yunnán?About leaving her?

Crane unintended though about her rejecting him. How hard that could affect the avian's future?And her own?Would she able to keep closer to the avian again?She would still be able to keep friends?

Questions, doubts, fears...that's what let him shut for so many years. Wasn't time to get courage and try his luck for once?

Crane took a deep breath. He felt like his head was spinning and held it firmly with both wings.

"Are you ok?" Mei Ling asked looking with concern at her friend.

"The most important thing in the world for me I had before, but I lost for several years hoping that one day I would find it again. Now I know it's here and it's safe again." Crane said without looking at her.

"Wha...and that is?" Crane chuckled, he waited too long for this and now it was time. He raised his head while placing his straw hat over a rock.

"It's...you."

Mei Ling's amber eyes stared intensely at Crane's dark brown eyes. She felt her mouth open in shock while her breath ceased.

She couldn't believe it, after so many years...Crane always had feelings for her and now was revealing them openly.

"Huang..." Her voice came as a whisper. Ling felt a mist of happiness and fear taking over her. Would he finally confess?She was prepared to reveal the same?

Crane didn't want her to get scared so he pressed closer to her.

"The day I left the Academy and headed for the Jade Palace...if I knew what kind of things awaited me I would regret deeply of leaving. You're the only person in my life that actually cared about who I really am. You were there for me when nobody else would, wasn't for you I would keep as a janitor and never would achieve so many on so short time. I just hope you can forgive me for leaving. I only did that because I wanted you to be proud of me. And I never really thanked you for that day." The avian felt some desperation explicit in his voice while explaining. He didn't want to scare her and he was terrified that she maybe deny him.

Mei Ling felt a sharp or remorse and guilty run through her after Crane finished.

"Jien...it's my fault. My fault that you left, I mean...you didn't have to, it wasn't necessary for you to become a kung fu master or whatever else to be worthy of my attention, but it was your dream and you deserve happiness more than any other person I meet before. I had a likening for you way before talking with you that night," The cat removed her gloves and placed her hands over his wings and head."You didn't call my attention because of strength or intelligence," Ling moved her right hand down towards Crane's chest and pressed slightly against it."But for your good hearth and innocence."

"Wait, you...so...I mean...y-y-you already...really?" Crane said while trying to breathe normally. Mei Ling chuckled.

"Yes, I...I do love you...Crane."

The waterfowl felt his hearth bumping so fast that it would come out of his chest at any moment.

_'This is it.'_

"I love you too...Mei."

Right after saying that Crane realized how her face was closing from his. Anticipating the moment he inclined his head to move his beak out of the way, wasn't really easy, but he managed to get some nice space free as Ling's head was next the end of his beak. Crane also realized he would have to open it a bit more. The cat also inclined her head to make things easier.

So they finally kissed, Crane tried to think in a way to describe the moment, but he couldn't. The only thing the avian was sure is that he never felt so happy before as he was now.

**(A/N: Due T rating reasons there won't be any detailed scenes from what happened after this part, but if someone's interested go to Shen's General profile which contains a one-shot fic of this scene)**

**2 hours later... **

Crane and Mei Ling left the cave and returned to the Palace, it was still dark out there so nobody would notice them out in night. Both reached the courtyard, but then faced an unexpected guest that was moving discretely around the corners.

Fenghuang.

"You?" Crane said stopping suddenly while staring at the owl." What are you doing here?'

Fenghuang wasn't expecting to encounter anyone up so late at night and got caught by surprise. She discretely eyed the mountain cat that she never saw before wondering what Mei Ling would be capable of.

"Good evening Master Crane, I was wondering why there would be two people up so late...would like to explain?" She said in a sarcastic manner. Crane and Ling share a quick stare.

"Doesn't matter. You shouldn't be here, you were banned. If Master S-

"I don't care about Shifu!" Th owl screamed."I have other things in my mind to do now instead of planning pathetic revenges."

"Oh really?" Crane asked raising an eyebrow."Mind to tell me what that would be?"

"Of course not...since you'll die."

Fenghuang unleashed several poison darts at him. Crane was about to deflect them, but got tackled down on the ground by Mei Ling.

"Wha..what was that?" Crane asked confused about her behavior. Mei Ling sighed.

"Sorry, but it's too risky to deflect poison darts Crane, if you miss one..."

"And you think that an arrow would be less dangerous?Or thousands of them?" Crane asked sarcastically. Mei Ling didn't reply.

Both of them got up, but their conversation gave enough time for the owl to escape.

"Great...I wonder what she was doing here after all. Probably trying to steal something important again. I'll have to tell Shifu ab-

"NO!" Ling seemed terrified. Crane stared at her with a questioning look."If you tell Shifu he'll ask why you were up so late at night. What you think he's going to do if he discovers that we..."

"We..." Even Crane tried to think on a good word."..that we're...dating?"

"Well, yes...I believe so." She said while entering the dorms quietly. Crane was concerned about informing Shifu about Fenghuang, but if that was going to ruin his relationship that barely finally started with Mei Ling probably it would be nice if he keep shut.

The waterfowl returned to his room quietly, but he manage to get a good night from Mei Ling. Shuting the door quietly he turned around.

"WH-

Before the avian could scream he was silenced by Po and Monkey that held his beak just in time. The avian was still in shock to see not only them, but also Mantis, Shen and...Tigress?

"So...how was it?" Asked Mantis with a perv smirk. Crane frowned.

"What's going on?Why you're in my room?And why you're still awake at this time?"

Everybody stared at each other waiting for the other to answer. Since everyone was hesitating Tigress went straight to the point.

"We all wanted to know if you finally said what you had to say after bla bla bla whatever years," The female tiger said being extremely upset with Po since he beg her to come along. Tigress saw no reason for doing it so, but Po had problems to let certain things go away.

Crane couldn't help but smile awkwardly at them, especially Tigress since she wasn't the one to care about that kind of thing.

"Hum...I did. I said...finally," The avian replied.

"And?" Monkey asked waiting for more details. The avian gave a small nod. "Ha!" Monkey laughed a bit but quickly received a punch on top of the head from Tigress for the simian to keep quiet.

"About time Crane, so...when you're gonna tell the good news to Master Shifu?" Po asked curiously. Everyone at the room except the panda became tense.

"Errr... I can't," Crane replied back feeling uncomfortable.

"Huh?What you're talking about?" Po asked not understand the answer.

"You don't know Po?" Mantis said while jumping on the panda's left shoulder."Relationships are not allowed in the Jade Palace. It's rules."

"Wha...ahh, common, that's ridiculous," Po said smiling a bit, but when he saw that nobody was changing their serious expressions he felt at doubt."Really?I mean, not even a lovely card from valentine's day?"

"That's Shifu's rules...no the Palace rules," Shen said making himself present after a long time, the peacock was the most upset about staying up so late. The panda gave him no choice but wait for Crane to return, in the mean time Shen was forced to hear several stories from the panda about his adventures and his love for kung fu and noddles, after 10 minutes Shen was wondering why he didn't kill himself instead.

"Anyway, were you guys went to for the night?" Mantis said ignoring the peacock. Crane was waiting that someone would ask that and was sure of what to do.

"I's a secret, can't tell you...and I never will. To none of you," The answer surprised everyone."Where's Viper?"

This time Shen went forward.

"Unless you want your relationship to end incredibly fast I suggest you to not comment about it to her. You got a lot of problems, unless you want to have one more you'll keep your mouth shut about this conversation and won't talk about it with anyone else."

All of them stare at Shen with wonder and curiosity. In Tigress case with disgust.

"Why?"

"Doesn't matter...yet. Now get off you all, I want to sleep for once, I've heard enough stupid things from all of you for today. Go away!"

Everyone left including Crane, but then the avian realized that it was his room after all. He turned around but Shen shut the door at his face.

All the other masters returned to their rooms with few expecting to get more information about Crane's date at tomorrow. The avian was about to open the door of his room when he felt someone holding his wing. Crane turned around to see Mei Ling still with her uniform smiling at him.

"Why you don't sleep with me this night?" She said rather sedulously.

"Err...it's risky, at morning..."

"Don't worry, just get up earlier and go back to your room, he'll never know."

Crane accepted the invite and followed the cat to her room.

**A/N: Alright, finally!Even I was wondering with myself when I was going to make this happen :P but there it is...now the next chapter will have new great things happening and several changes may occur. I feel bad for the 2 months of delay, I should be around chapter 32 already, but oh well. **

**HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!I'll be back at 2013. Be safe!**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N:Ok,another update. I'll start replying your reviews again in this one, I hope I can catch with my old speedy on updates again. Good reading.**

Next morning Shen had awoke earlier than anyone and left Crane's room. The peacock felt he needed to pass sometime outside to refresh his mind with the morning breeze of the wind. Being stuck inside for so long was bothering him a lot. Before leaving he went to Mei Ling's door and knocked few times.

Unnaturally he felt like warning them to wake up before Shifu arrives. Few noises inside the room were enough for the peacock to know that they were awake. The door opened slowly revealing Mei Ling peeking inside her mouth as if there was something disturbing her.

"Shen?Wha' yo' doin' her'?" She said while having few fingers inside her mouth. The peacock felt uneasy.

"I do not intend to take longer, I'm jus-

Before Shen could finish Crane called from inside the room.

"Mei, you saw one of my toe rings?I can't find it..."

Just as Crane said that Mei Ling managed to pull out a small golden ring from her mouth. She blushed heavily avoiding to stare at Shen. The peacock's eyes widened, but somehow he managed to stay focus.

"Err...as I was saying...get Crane out your room before Shifu comes."

Not wanting to stay to find out how Mei Ling got Crane's ring toe in her mouth the peacock left in a blink of an eye.

After few weeks Shen was recovering his good health quickly, his feathers were still growing again in few spots, but thankfully there were not visible scars. The peacock was tempted to go and actually train his skills, to see if he could handle in a fight again. Of course that he had no wish at all to try his luck at the Training Hall, unless if it was to commit suicide.

Shen wasn't feeling good about staying at this place, he wanted to go back at Gongmen, it was his home, the only place he felt he was required, and it truly belong to him.

"Good morning, Lord Shen," The peacock turned around slowly to see the red panda eyeing him carefully.

"Morning," Shen said back with some exhaustion. He wasn't ready for conversations.

Shifu still kept staring at him, even being a little surprise that the peacock actually was being a little formal.

"I believe that you'll be fully recovered soon, that's good. Crane is anxious about start training with you."

Shen opened his mouth slowly as if he was about to retort or start an argument, but surprisingly he shut it back and said nothing. For Shifu that was a huge improvement.

"I feel in the need of asking, if you allow me Lord Shen...are you sure you want to train under Crane?"

At this Shen turned around, Shifu was severe at his stare. What kind of question was that?

"I'm sorry, I didn't get the question," Shen said back tiredly.

"I was wondering if you could indeed have a good training under Master Crane, maybe you could train under someone else with lot more experience, you're so skilled after all, we could make you improve a lot more."

Shen took few seconds to analyze the offer. At first it seemed that Shifu himself wanted to train the peacock, why he wanted was something to the peacock debated with himself later, now on second though...appears to be that Shifu didn't trust Crane enough for the task.

"You want to train me?" Shen asked while reflecting. Shifu nodded slightly.

"Would be for the best."

"And what about Crane?"

At this Shifu was surprise, he wasn't expecting to the peacock to care about Crane, or care about any of them at all, at least not yet.

"Well, Master Crane can fulfill his time with other duties. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be disappointed on not having to train you, despite the long waiting."

**Meanwhile... **

Crane left Ling's room silently to make sure he would awake anyone. Since it was so early in the morning he got back to his room and sleep a bit more, the waterfowl hadn't sleep much while in Ling's room.

"Crane?What you're doing here so early?"

Crane quickly turned around to see Tigress looking at him suspiciously. The avian tried to think on an excuse, but he only managed to smile nervously and look around.

"Err...I was...you know...walking," Crane said shyly.

Tigress raised and eyebrow.

"Walking?...right. Do you really have to lie to me?What were you doing?" She said annoyed.

"You really want to know?" Crane said back with more seriousness. Tigress stared for few seconds.

"Nevermind, let's go to the kitchen. It's a long time since I had a peaceful breakfast without Po doing a mess around."

With that both of them went together and left the dorms. In the mean time Tigress felt like she couldn't manage her curiosity.

"Crane..." She called. The avian eyed her while walking by her side."...how is it?

"How is what?" Crane asked back not understanding the question.

"You know...to love someone, that close to you," Tigress felt like blushing a bit, but thankfully Crane haven't notice.

"Oh, that...you know...I wished I haven't waste so much time, but after all...is still worthy. A lot."

Tigress nodded slowly. She knew that Crane regretted deeply of not having find out earlier, but even so he couldn't feel much better than he was now.

"Crane, how long you plan on staying here?"

That question caught Crane off guard, he stopped on his tracks. Tigress turned around and waited for an answer.

"Wha...what do you mean?" He said apparently shocked.

"You think you can keep that from Shifu forever?Well, you can't. One day he'll find out. I'm afraid that Master Shifu lost a lot of confidence he had on you since you hide Shen from him. Those kind of acts, despite of how much goodness you present on them can have bad consequences."

"Of course, it was me who saved him," Crane said getting angry of all sudden." If it was Po he wouldn't say a thing and would allow Shen here without much resistance."

Tigress frowned a bit.

"What's that sup-

"Ah common Tigress!Since Po got here we're not the Great Furious Five like few months ago, don't you see?Every task that Shifu gave us he always call for Po, like we couldn't handle ourselves. And every time we save a village or anything else we just stand in the back while the citizens stay around Po cheering and calling him hero as if we had done nothing. We are secondary in this role now Tigress. There's the Furious Five and Dragon Warrior, but now it's the Dragon Warrior and the Five. People don't call us by the entire name anymore, we're just the Five."

"That's ridiculous," Tigress said surprised by the bird's outburst.

"Really?Why Shifu let's Po do what he likes and we can't?"

"Most times Shifu punishes him for that," Tigress said getting angry at Crane. The waterfowl rolled his eyes.

"How many times Po managed to escape from punishment or not do it at all?You remember how hard was for us few years ago?I'm not saying it should be for him too, but why it's STILL hard for some of us?"

At this Tigress said nothing. She was trying to understand what the avian was trying to explain, but deep inside she felt she knew the truth.

"Tigress," Crane's voice sound like he was begging."I'm getting old, I wanna live my life for once. I can't stand getting hurt at training or fighting. I don't wanna be like Shifu, I'm at my limit. There's no more room for me to improve. I'm a master of the Crane style, but it ends there. I have nothing else to learn, or at least that I can learn, and I wasted too much time to start teaching."

The female tiger knew what Crane wanted to do, still it was sad to her to hear that, after fighting along with the avian for so many years.

"I still want to help Shen, my last objective it's to teach him my style, and my career ends there." He said determinate.

"I see...how long you think it's going to take?" Tigress asked. Crane shrugged.

"A guy like Shen?Few months, at least he has an avian as teacher. I hadn't one, I probably would have learned faster."

"You think so?" Tigress said being curious about such point of view. Crane smiled.

"Shifu has no wings, he doesn't really know how is to fight as a bird and how to apply techniques precisely as one."

"So how did you learn so much?"

"Most by myself...that's why it took so long."

"You think that-

But before Tigress could finish she heard a voice coming from not far away. She instantly recognized the voice as being from Shifu.

"...of course that I can let you stay with him if you prefer, but if you change your mind you know who to look for," The red panda said while leaving the peacock.

Crane and Tigress approached slowly to where the other two were. They only could see Shen with a disgusted expression evident.

"Shen?What's going on?" Crane asked while coming close to the peacock. Shen wasn't expecting to see the avian there so he hesitated before answering.

"It's...nothing, your master only wanted to talk about certain things that were concerning him. Nothing to worry."

Crane eyed Shen carefully, trying to find something else on the peacock's behavior that would tell different.

"Alright...why we don't go back for breakfast?I think your training can start finally," The waterfowl said returning his path along Tigress to the kitchen.

Shen nodded slightly. He followed behind Crane, but something was bothering him deep inside. Why he trusted Crane that much?Why he felt something different about the waterfowl?It wasn't natural, Shen felt really out of character. He was a proud peacock, a lord of an entire kingdom, and here he was concerning himself about another avian. Was he being selfless?Perhaps, but how so?

The more Shen stared at Crane the more awkward he felt. This avian...the warrior of black and white...didn't defeat him, but saved his life. How that makes any sense?

Shen also noticed that Crane seemed a lot less tense than before, he was walking slowly and always carrying a content expression.

"Tell me, how was your date?" Shen asked to the other avian while also keeping an eye on Tigress that wasn't too far from them.

"Uhm...was good, I mean. Now we...you know what happened," Crane said with a laugh.

"Not really, especially the part were your missing toe ring appears inside her mouth," Shen said just to make the avian uncomfortable. He succeed.

Crane blushed intensely while trying to stare away from the peacock.

"Err...that...hum...was the...well..."

Shen felt like playing around that subject all day just to make Crane nervous.

"You two did it, didn't you?"

The question surprised Crane who never expected to have this kind of conversation with the peacock.

"I...yes, we did," The waterfowl confessed.

"How was it?" Crane felt uneasy to reply now.

"Well, better than I could ever expect and remarkable,"

"I bet you're looking for a lot more."

Crane stopped walking and faced the peacock.

"What are you talking about?" Shen smirked.

"Tell me...besides that night how many times you did such before?"

Crane tried to remember, but the only thing that could get closer to such experience was left way behind at his teenage years when he discovered other 'ways' to please himself. With a blush the avian lowered his head.

"So never, huh?" Shen said smiling a bit."No reason to be ashamed, at least you kept your dignity and waited for the right person. Anyway, I think I have more important things to talk about than your personal life."

"Like what?" Crane said shyly.

"Apparently...your master doesn't trust you no longer," Crane's eyes widened.

"What?"

The next minutes Shen treated to explain the conversation he had with Shifu. Crane seemed extremely disappointed, but not surprised at all.

"I guess that could happen, Tigress had already told me that Shifu had a distrust on me," The waterfowl said while sighing. "Even so...you trust me."

Shen looked at the waterfowl, he seemed proud and happy for the confidence that Shen has towards him.

"I do trust you. Not that I have a choi-

"Ah, please Shen, just admit for once that you trust on me by yourself," Crane said with a smirk. The peacock grunted.

"Fine."

"Common, we better get going, otherwise Po will be way too distracted around Tigress to care about making our breakfast if we get late."

"What?" The peacock asked confused.

"Oh, you don't know?Po likes Tigress," Crane said laughing a bit. The peacock frowned.

"What do you mean?Likes her as..?"

"As I like Mei Ling."

"..."

"What?" Crane asked noticing the shocked expression on Shen's face.

"That's...unnatural," Shen managed to say. Crane rolled his eyes.

"Oh really?And I'm sure it's really common for birds and cats to fall in love with each other. Don't think like that Shen, love is something curious and surprising. Do not underestimate it, love is for anyone, not matter their cities, families, species..."

"Gender..." Shen said unintended. Crane stopped again. Shen stared at him intensely.

"Errr...why you're look-

"HEY CRANE!" Called Po in the distance, both of them jumped in surprise."What's up buddy?We're waiting for you guys!Hurry up!"

"We're coming Po!" Crane said moving forward, Shen followed feeling strangely disoriented.

They both reached the kitchen and gathered along the other masters.

"Hey Crane buddy!How you feel?" Mantis asked while eyeing Viper carefully, the snake was calm at the moment, but if he said the wrong thing everything could turn into a nightmare.

"I'm good," Crane said sitting next to Monkey and Tigress. Much to Shen's dismay he had to sit next to Po, Mei Ling was next to him too. The only thing separating the cat from Viper was Mantis.

_"Where were you?"_ Mei Ling whispered to Shen while keeping an eye at the others around the table.

_"Talking with Crane about the fun you two had last night,"_ Shen said back. Mei Ling blushed.

_"I didn't though he would be the kind of person to talk about such to others." _

_"He's not, but I do have a talent to persuade others to talk." _

_"I would be surprise if wasn't by torture." _

_"Very funny." _

Everyone spent nice moments during breakfast, even Shen was starting to feel better being around has been a long time since he actually had some reason to laugh at morning. He remembered how the Soothsayer always helped him to cheer up to face a new day. He was missing her, but not much as he would few months ago.

They were about to leave, but before that a goose came in quickly and acting with extreme nervousness.

"Zeng?Wha-

"Where's Master Shifu?!" He said with a panic expression.

"Hum, I don't know. What's wrong?" Tigress asked coming besides the goose. He was holding a golden scroll in his small wings.

"Hey, I know that. It's an imperial scroll," Mei Ling said while looking at the goose. Everyone became tense, there was no reason for them to receive letters from the emperor unless it was something extremely serious.

"Do you mind Zeng?" Tigress said extending her hand to receive the scroll. Zeng seemed reluctant.

"I should deliver to Shifu only," He said feeling a bit terrified.

"Don't worry, I can handle it to him, go get some rest," Tigress said gently, the goose accepted the offer and carefully delivered the scroll to her.

"Crane, can you read this?I never saw this kind of calligraphy before," The female tiger asked after opening the scroll. Crane approached and grab the letter carefully. For some reason he didn't read for the others but only himself. As his eyes moved down the scroll the more shocked the avian was becoming, after he finished Crane felt nauseous and went to his chair.

"What's wrong?What the letter says?" Everyone asked. Crane took a deep breath, but he didn't bother to read the letter again.

_"Grand Master Shifu, it has come to our knowledge that you're holding Lord Shen at the Jade Palace. As guest or prisoner we don't know, but even so after recent events that occurred at Gongmen City I've been forced to intervain in this case since there was a massive rebellion at the town due the reason of the peacock having survived and being protected by your students._

_Lord Shen was charged guilty of numerous crimes and sentenced to death, since we know his location we're dispatching a part of our royal guard to your location to remove the criminal of your domains and bring him to justice. I hope you can understand the gravity of the situation and will assist the royal guard much as possible._

_I feel disappointed on having to do such, the peacocks took good care of Gongmen for so many years, it's sad to see how things will end. I hope to see you again someday." _

The silence that follow was filled with fear and confusion. Probably none of them was fearing most the situation than Shen. The message came as an explosion from a cannon ball. He felt disoriented and afraid. This couldn't be...they still wanted to kill him?

"Crane..." Shen didn't know why but he called the avian, he felt like Crane could actually do something about it. The waterfowl didn't reply, he only stared to the floor and it wasn't possible to see his face due his straw hat. Mei Ling was also at shock and extremely apprehensive. Po and Tigress eyed each other carefully.

"Wha...so...they coming here...to kill him?" Po asked nervously.

"No, not here at least. They'll do a public execution I'm sure," Tigress said, but that didn't make no one feel better.

"How...?" Po tried to ask what exactly they would do but couldn't find the proper words.

"They'll cut my head off, and burn my corpse."

Everyone stared at the peacock, they're were terrified to see that Shen managed to stay calmly even after such disturbing news.

"Shen, don't talk like that...I mean, I'm sure we can find a solu-

"There's no escape!If I want to survive I'll have to leave this place, go far away and live on the isolation again. This place is too good for me, I'm not allowed to live in it."

"We should try to do something!It's not like we would just sit here and watch they take you away!" Po said being angry at the peacock for giving up so easily on them."

"Actually Po, that's what Shifu will order us to do. Nothing," Mantis said sadly. Po let out a sigh of frustration.

"Ahn, common!We can take down those royal whatever anytime!We're kung fu masters!"

"Po!"

The panda went silent. He stared at Crane, the avian was extremely serious.

"We cannot fight the royal guard, if we do that it's the same as declaring war at the emperor and we'll be charged of treason."

"Oh...then, what we should do?" Po said unsure.

"We must find a way to convince the emperor that Shen is not a criminal, at least not anymore. He changed."

"That's what you say," Viper and Tigress said. That was enough for Crane.

"THEN WHY YOU TWO DON'T BRING HIM TO THE EMPEROR AND CUT HIS HEAD OFF YOURSELVES!"

Tigress grunted while Viper looked away ashamed. Everyone else was amazed to see the avian act that way.

"It's a good thing we got the letter first, we can think on something before they reach the Valley, we got 3 days until there, let's get to work."

"You...you're really going to help me?" Shen asked Crane. The waterfowl smiled.

"That's what friends are for."

**A/N: Hum..suspense, I need more of that, let's see what I got in next chapters, have a nice week!**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Okay here's chapter 28, It's a bit short, but that's because of the several dialogues that made me crazy. I hope you have a good reading!**

**BUT...replies!**

**Shen's General;**

Intense?Yeah, few parts, I like some tension to go around, and also it's impossible to not have some.

**Huntress4455;**

Thank you, I'm surprised you though it was funny, few other people wouldn't.

**XxIamAwesomexDxX;**

CALL 911!

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

Thanks Charles, I'm glad you loved.

**Anonymousrules;**

Lol, thanks!

**strange dude;**

Hmm, you know, huh?Go ahead.

**XdIAZ;**

THAT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON'T HAVE EMERGENCY KITS! :P

**Unilever;**

Lol, thank you!

**Sicarius19;**

Crane just being Crane. Couldn't be different. I hope Shen just fits in his head what he should do.

**Alpha tiger;**

Maybe they will. I hope.

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

It is. :(

**DSAP;**

Lol!I'm sure they'll figure out something.

**Bluewings;**

Thanks a lot!It's good to see you again!

**ShifuFanatic;**

Now that was a very good observation from your part, good one!

**ShootingStar;**

Yeah, glad you like that scene.

**Holoispartan23;**

Lol really?Wow. :p

**Dragon's wing;**

I'm glad you liked, that's what authors like us are here for. 0_-

**Enjoy!**

"What?Who said we're going to help him?"

Crane turned around just when he was about to leave the kitchen with Mei Ling. He saw the undignified expression of Mantis looking at him in a challenging manner.

"Wh...what do you mean?" The waterfowl asked while trying to absorb the situation.

"I said...that _we_ never said nothing about helping Shen," Mantis responded angrily. Everyone at the kitchen with the exception of Po nodded slightly in agreement with Mantis words. Crane only stared at them trying to understand what was going through their minds.

"But...you and the others..."

"Nobody here is willing to lose their lifes for a peacock that we do not trust and we won't," Tigress said harshly.

"And that's the only reason?" Crane said in a mocking manner. This time the tiger approached him dangerously, almost making eye-to-eye contact.

_"Po told me." _

Crane seemed confused, what Po could have told her that would make a difference in the way she saw Shen?

"About what?" The avian replied curiously. Tigress only stared for a moment, then...

"I know about Po, but you never told me about your...parents, Crane."

The waterfowl froze. Po had told about what happened with his parents long ago and what Shen had done, and judging by the way she was acting it wasn't long ago he talked about it.

Crane tried to catch Po's attention, but the panda was too busy playing with a spoon. The avian took few steps back cautiously.

"Alright then, you know, but the others..."

"We all now," Viper said loudly. The waterfowl felt things were getting tense and the sooner he decided to leave the better would be.

Mei Ling sat next to Crane and pulled him by one of his wings.

"What?" He asked to the mountain cat.

"There's nothing you can do, you're a smart guy Jien, but...this time there's no solution."

Despite the gently way she said those words Crane couldn't help but feel anger. He was not only disappointed with his friends, but also with himself for not anticipating such moment. He knew that something like this could happen, but not that all the worst possibilities would happen at once.

Could things get worse?

"Crane, Mei Ling. You two come with me," Said a severe voice at the door. Everyone looked at Master Shifu, the red panda seemed really angry. Both cat and bird stared at each other with concerned expressions.

After the trio left the rest of the group entered into an intense debate, but the worst thing was that they didn't bother to notice the peacock that was still there.

"Common Tigress, I told you it's ok," Po said with disappointment. Tigress roared.

"He's a murderer Po!He killed your parents!And you think that's OK?!"

Po winced a bit at her aggressiveness, but managed to stay calm.

"I forgave him. You and the others otherwise have no reason to hate him. He didn't do anything to you at all!Just give him a chance to prove he can change!"

The kitchen went silent for few moments.

"Po," Tigress seemed extremely stressed." We...argh!Ok, we may give him a chance, but not if that's probably get us killed!We can't stop the royal guard."

At this the panda smirked.

"I actually know few people who can."

**20 minutes later... **

"That's better to be a joke panda. We are familiar with this group you're talking about," Tigress said while trying to contain her fury." They're nothing but a group of mercenaries. You can't trust them, they gave us lots of troubles in the past years."

"Yeah, I heard about them before. I mean...I even met them few weeks ago, they're not bad people." Po said defensively.

"Not bad people?They just steal and scare hundreds!And also I heard they've killed many in the past," Mantis commented being incredulous by Po being in favor of such group.

"Just stories," Po said waving his hands." I know one of them from long ago, he own me a favor."

"This is ridiculous, why do we even care?It's not our problem," Tigress was about to leave, but Po stopped her.

"At least any of you care about Crane?Any of you care if he die?"

There was an awkward silence in the room. Po sighed heavily thinking on what he could say to make the others trust on the avian.

"Look, he's my best friend..I won't let Crane down, he helped me a lot during these last months and now that I can pay back the favor I would just turn away?Of course not!He's part of our group, he's our friend. If he want's to help Shen...it's fine for me. I'll do the same. I trust Crane."

In the mean time Shen was wondering how much long would it take for them to remember that he was still there in the kitchen listening to everything they were saying. Including the parts about Shen himself.

"Master Shifu would never agree with this," Tigress said pretending she didn't hear what Po just said. The panda seemed uncomfortable after that.

"Yeah, about Shifu...I don't think we should say anything at all."

"WHAT?" The rest of the Five were perplex.

"Po everything that we do Shifu should know," Viper said censuring the panda's suggestion. Po smirked.

"Everything?" He asked while staring at Viper. She almost nodded, but then she though better and realized what the panda wanted her to understand.

"Well, not everything...at least nothing personal."

"Like what?I mean, let's talk about the part that we can't relate with other people in a more _lovely_ way," Monkey said now being somewhat annoyed.

"Monkey..." Warned Mantis but the simian paid no attention.

"He's ruling the way we live since we got here!I mean, I wanna a break too, I think Crane is right about that part. Since he started dating Mei Ling he seems a lot hap-

The simian shut immediately after he saw Viper's expression.

"Mantis, why you don't take Viper outside so she can take some fresh air?" Tigress recommended hoping to avoid any volatile situation.

"Common Liu, let's go outside a bit," Mantis said gently to the snake next to him.

The bug stared discretely at Tigress while leading a disturbed Viper outside the kitchen.

"What was that?" Po asked.

"You forgot that Viper was interested on Crane?" Tigress retorted being surprise at how fast the panda would forget things.

"Oh...that. Yeah, I forgot," Admitted Po while blushing a bit.

"I shouldn't have said that," Monkey said regretting his careless."This will only make things harder for Crane."

"As long Viper keeps her head on place and don't think on doing anything unnatural we don't have to worry about," Tigress took a seat and eyed Po carefully. "So...what's you big plan, Po?"

"So you're actually going to help me?" Shen said with slight surprise. Everyone stared at him.

"Perhaps, but I'm doing this for Crane and Po, not for you," Tigress said severely. Po rolled his eyes.

"Sure, for me and Crane. I'm doing this for all of us, after all if...some people don't bother about it, soon you'll be part of our group. If you want Shen."

The peacock felt his beak drop open at incredulity. The panda actually was considering Shen as one of them.

"I...I'm not sure," Shen was hesitant about the idea of actually joining this group of warriors."I don't know, I have lots of things to do."

"Like what?" Po asked with a chuckle." You spent so much of your life working on a way to conquer China, you ever stop to think what else you could do besides that?I mean, doing something less...malicious?"

The peacock didn't reply. No, he never though about anything else besides ruling China, and why would he?He was so confident that he would make it, until this same panda proved him wrong. Now he had no objective to follow or any interest to go after. Shen buffed angrily because at some point the peacock knew he would have to accept that the best place for him at the moment was at the Jade Palace.

"I don't know, panda. Give me some time to think about it," Shen said while closing his eyes in an attempt to calm himself down.

"Well, you had a lot of time. Now you have three days left to make your choice, good luck on that," Monkey said before leaving the kitchen.

Shen suddenly had the wish of throwing something heavy at Monkey. Tigress directed herself towards Po.

"You better tell me what you have in mind. Then we should go after Crane and Ling and see what they have to say about your plan. I'm sure Crane will be very pleased," The feline tiger said hoping that Po would keep focused this time.

"Alright, alright. Easy there. Listen, I'll need your help for this one. There's a place around the Shing Lee province that is one of their main hideouts. We can go there and I'll talk with the guy in charge. I'm sure he'll remember me."

Tigress raised an eyebrow.

"Do you even know his name?" Po looked away timidly.

"Hum...noooo. Doesn't matter, I can recognize him."

"And you think they're just going to let us in by the front door that easily?" Tigress said with a hint of sarcasm.

"What was that?"

"What?"

"You...being sarcastic. It's weird," Po said chuckling. Tigress sighed.

"It happens when you spent much time with Crane, but he's acting way more seriously than usual."

"You care about him, don't you?"

"Crane is like a brother to me, Po. He was there in the good times and bad times when I needed. Although I didn't treat him back kindly as I should," She said lowering her at shame.

"Hey, it's alright. Crane can handle it, besides he always seemed to be very to nice towards you than the others, it's strange," Po said laughing a bit. Tigress felt she was bushing, but thankfully Po haven't noticed. Actually Tigress knew the reason behind Crane being so nice to her. Telling it to Po probably wouldn't be a good idea. Even if there was no reason for Po to be concerned about such.

"Maybe, but even so I feel bad for being so harsh towards him. He always come with good intentions and all, but as a leader you need to be tough and know what you're doing. Besides I always though that Shifu only set me as leader because the way I am. Strong, determinate, fearless, but those qualities have their failures. Crane is older, more experienced, peaceful, gentle. The kind of diplomatic guy, maybe if this wasn't involved so much about fights and combats and had more dialogue Crane would've a great lead in it. Crane always tried to convince us to avoid fighting and trying to talk more. Honestly he would upset me one time or other, but the big problem was to face his disappointment towards us."

"What kind of disappointment?" Po asked intrigued.

"The one that you feel when you see someone dying."

"Oh...that kind of disappointment." Po muttered.

"One day he tried to stop me from killing a thief that tried to kill me with a small blade. Before I could deliver the blow Crane pushed that wolf out of my way and I hit him instead. He must have went through an entire house before falling at the ground unconscious."

Po was perplex since that was a story he never heard of and it was even more amazing that it was Tigress that was telling about it.

"Crane got severely wounded and we had to carry him away quickly. The thief have escape, but was found death few days later. Probably killed by other wolfs.

"What Crane said about that?"

"Well, he had broken a lot of bones, but it there's something that disturbed me that day was what he said to Mantis while I was passing in front of his room."

"What?

"'Even after getting crushed through a house I think there's no worst pain than to know that all your efforts to save someone were in vain.'"

**Meanwhile... **

Crane and Mei Ling were at the Hall of Warriors with Master Shifu. Apparently the red panda found out about Crane's date with the cat during night and things weren't going well.

"...you better tell me exactly what you two were doing that night, Crane. You're about to face a severe punishment for that, and also you Ling!I do not admit that kind of indiscipline at the Palace."

Crane seemed tense, but for a total different reason. Mei Ling in the other hand was very apprehensive.

"Mind to tell us who told you about it, Master?" Crane said with some difficult to contain the irritation. Shifu gave him a severe glare.

"Fenghuang."

"What?You're-

"She left few hours ago, she tried to sneak at the Hall again, but this time I caught her in act. She has improved a lot on her skills during those last years. I myself had some difficulty to stand against her, but in the end she flew away after throwing a paralyzing dart at my leg. I'm lucky it wasn't poison."

Despite what happened with his Master, Crane didn't felt much sympathy for him.

"While dodging her attack she tried to elude me into a conversation. It didn't work, but then when she told me about you two I realized the truth in her words and that was enough for her to hit me. Now I'm here to know why two of my students are acting in a way they shouldn't and why you two never informed me about her presence here at same night."

There was an awkward silence. Shifu was waiting patiently, but not for longer.

For incredible as it seemed Crane felt like he didn't want to respond. Mei Ling was hesitant about saying anything.

"So?"

"So...I won't tell," Crane said.

Shifu and Mei Ling's eyes widened.

"Are you challenging my authority Crane?" Shifu asked while trying to contain his fury.

"No, but seems you're trying to control my life. And I don't like it." Crane said back annoyed.

Mei Ling was extremely shocked at what the avian was doing.

"What do you t-

"Master Shifu," Crane said interrupting him."Those rules of yours, would you be disposed to make some changes?" Crane asked formally.

"Wha... absolutely not!Those rules have being applied since Master Oogway, and they never failed," Shifu said a bit disturbed at this question.

Crane stared at Shifu for few seconds, then...

"I quit."

**A/N: Uh Oh...**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: So here's the new chapter finally!I got in ecstasy with Shen's General one-shot that I almost forgot that I had a story to update. :P Shen's General you made a wonderful job and I gotta say that you're a magnificent author indeed. Since you helped me so much with this fic and it's a great supporter I think there's no reason to claim you co-author of it.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I had lots of people asking for the update, sorry for the wait. Here it is.**

Master Shifu was standing petrified in front of one of his most loyal and dedicated students. His expression revealing bewilderment. He couldn't believe on what he just heard. It was unthinkable that such could ever happen, but it just did.

Crane was staring at his master with no visible emotion. He remained calm and quiet after his declaration, as if he was waiting for his master to understand what was happening.

"You can't quit," Said a trembling voice next to the waterfowl. The avian turned to the mountain cat that was by his side.

"I just did, what's the matter?" Crane said back with a frown. Mei Ling seemed lost.

"I though that...we should talk about this later."

Mei Ling wasn't dispose to argue with Crane, at least not in front of Shifu. The red panda was still trying to absorb the impact of the declaration.

"Shifu, I don't want you to think that I'm not immensely grateful for everything you taught me in those last years, and I'm really honored that you trusted me to make part of the Furious Five, but now...it's time for me to move on. I wish it was under better circumstances, but there's never a good time to say goodbye."

Crane felt sorry for what he was doing even if it could mean to move to a better life. He loved this place as if it was his home, and his friends even more. Despite the great times he went through he always felt that something was missing. It turned to be the most important of everything.

"I see...I...can't tell exactly how this is...rather unexpected and disappointing," Shifu said while trying to find a way to suppress his emotions at what this moment could really mean for everyone at the Jade Palace."I wonder what will be of Shen now since you're leaving. I'm sure that Mei Ling and the others-

"Actually, I'm leaving too," Ling said with a sadden expression. Shifu gasped at surprise.

"What?!But...why?!" It was already bad enough to lose one of his students at such way, but losing two at same time seems to be way too much for the red panda.

"Wherever Crane goes I'll go too. He's my boyfriend after all," She said with a chuckle. The avian grunted nervously by being mentioned as boyfriend. It was still hard for him to leave shyness aside.

"Your b...for how long have you two being relating?" The red panda asked. Before Crane could respond Mei Ling cut his chat.

"For months, and we planned to met at Gongmen. All started during our time together at Wu Dan."

The waterfowl clear didn't understood what the cat was saying since none of that was true. Even so, she seemed so confident of herself.

"Crane, you're dispose to throw everything you achieved in several years of hard training and suffering to be with Mei Ling?" Shifu asked with a frown.

"I am," Replied the avian without hesitation. Shifu sighed.

"I can't lose you Crane, neither Mei Ling, I need you both. Can't you stay for a bit longer?Please?"

Crane raised and eyebrow. Shifu pleading for them to stay was extremely odd.

"Why?Why would you still need me, or Mei Ling?"

"Fenghuang wasn't only playing games at night in the Palace in the last days. She's planning something dangerous, I might have an idea of what she's planning, but I need more clues. And to worse things we have a imperial party coming this way. If they find Shen we'll be in a lot of trouble. I need help, and I know I can count on you two."

Crane and Mei Ling eyed each other. Wondering if they should tell Shifu of why they had imperial troops coming to Valley of Peace.

"If I know right you have rules, how can you trust on people that don't follow the rules?"

Master Shifu closed his eyes for a brief moment. After reopening them he stared directly at Crane.

"I can make an exception."

"No, it should be the same to all," Crane said harshly.

"Crane, those rules are what keep the discipline and-

"Master Shifu, those rules are good at a certain point, at least until they don't start isolating us from the people we love. It's not fair for much people that we make such sacrifice to end with nothing in exchange, but we do. Love is for free anyway. So why not?" The waterfowl wondered, supplication covering his words.

The red panda felt speechless at such observation. He couldn't deny that the avian was right, and Crane never meant to disobey rules so he had honorable reasons to ignore the rules concerning relationships. Maybe...maybe it was time for a change.

"You may be right, changes can be made, but I must warn you that I'll keep an eye for any disturbances at your training that a relationship might cause," The red panda said with severity. The avian nodded, and so did Mei Ling.

"Understood Master Shifu. Thank you very much," Crane said feeling extremely relieved and surprise at how things ended so well after all.

"Very well, now we may have more urgent things to discuss. Do you have any idea why the emperor would sent troops to the Valley?" The red panda asked directly to Mei Ling that was taken aback in surprise by the question.

"Hum..actually we do, Master Shifu. Maybe we should go back to the kitchen to discuss this with the others," She suggested nervously looking from Shifu to Crane.

**Meanwhile...**

"You just don't understand!" Viper screamed while she felt the tears leaving her intensely. Mantis was close the snake wondering what to do to cheer her up.

"Common, don't be like that Vip. I know how is to get disappointed while being in love, but trust me that will pass with time, you just need to calm down and distract yourself a bit," The bug said trying to get closer to her without getting pushed back.

"I know Mantis, but it's not that simple," Viper said wondering how the bug could really understand.

"Listen, let's go down the village and find something nice to do, huh?What you think?And then we can walk around while you tell me about what you think about Crane and all the rest."

Viper's cry ended abruptly. She stared down at the bug with incredulity.

"You...you're being nice?With me?Since when?"

It wasn't unnatural for Mantis to be a kind person towards Viper, but usually he would do that always with a touch of a pervert and sarcastic one. Now the little guy was being really nice, not just acting like a jerk.

"Er..well, I may..you know, be cool sometimes," Mantis said while looking around nervously. Viper chuckled at his behavior.

"Alright, a walk then. Let's just not be too late to get back. I have something to say to that cat."

Mantis gulped heavily while walking next to Viper.

_'Crane is in so much trouble now...'_

**Meanwhile...**

Crane, Mei Ling and Shifu had return to the kitchen, but they found no one.

"Where did they all go?" Mei Ling asked while looking around for any clues of where the others could be.

"I don't know, we need to find them quick, there's a lot we need to talk," Crane said while turning around to leave.

"No need for hurry, we can gather later. You two should return to your rooms while waiting for the others, dismissed," Shifu informed. Both Mei Ling and Crane bowed and left without looking back.

The couple had just reached the dorms, but before Crane could enter his room he was stopped by the cat.

"We need to talk," She said with a tone of irritation. Crane's eyes widened at this.

"About?..."

"About how you were planning to throw you life away for this peacock, but what confuses me is that you were dispose to quit your life at Jade Palace for me, and you fought so hard to be where you are now."

Mei Ling didn't seem mad, just confused. Crane sighed.

"Ling..it's hard to explain..." Crane wasn't willing to talk about such with all that was going at the moment. Without any of them noticing Crane's door opened slowly revealing Shen standing inside the room glaring at the two of them with a bored expression.

"Hard?What's hard Huang?To know if you love me or love Shen most?" She said with a hint of sarcasm. What the cat said was badly misunderstood by the peacock.

"What?!Are you trying to impress me, bird?Just to make an advance on me while I'm not looking back?!" Shen asked undignified.

Crane's face distorted weirdly as if Shen had just said the most dumbest thing in the world. Mei Ling in the other hand couldn't help but laugh a lot at the scene.

"What the heck you're talking about?!I'm not that kind of bird," Crane replied back furiously. Both cat and peacock shut immediately. "What?"

"What kind are you then?" Shen asked raising an eyebrow.

"The one that cares."

"No, what I mean was... never mind," Shen turned around and closed the door.

"Hey, Shen. Wait!We need to talk," Crane called back the peacock, but Shen didn't return." Great, now things will get a lot more serious than they already were."

"That's a good thing," Mei Ling said while scratching her ear. Crane frowned.

"How so?"

"Well, I'm not sure about you, but...we do have a lot to catch and since you're planning to leave the Five, I was thinking...were we're gonna live?"

"Are you thinking that far already?We need to help Shen," Crane was disturbed by Ling's uncaring of the present."Mei, I know you care a lot about us...please, help me. If you don't trust Shen at least trust me on this."

Mei Ling stared at Crane in a way that reminded him the first time he saw her after she invited him to the try-outs.

"I will...just be careful, this is not simple as it should," She said holding his wings.

"I know, it never was and it will never be."

**Meanwhile...**

"This is a bad idea Po, we'll get in trouble,"

"Relax Tigress, I know what I'm doing. We'll be there in no time."

"At least we could have brought something to eat."

"You're sounding just like Po now, Monkey."

Tigress, Po and Monkey were approaching of the Pyiang Mountain. This place wasn't located very far from Valley of Peace, but on a extreme isolated and unexplored area of the Chinese Empire. Rumors were spread across the years about this particular region. People going missing was quite common to happen at the location, nobody never was found and citizens learned from long ago to avoid the area. There were those who would tell stories that even the feared and terrible Wu Sisters would avoid coming close it.

Bizarre things were happening around the Pyiang province, nearest villages registering several murderers and robberies. People being kidnapped and who knows what else. Masters of kung fu had try to attend to the problems that were being inflicted to the citizens on the last months.

For some reason they never managed to figured out what was happening.

Few masters and warriors as well bounty hunters also went missing without a trace. For a particular reason Great Master Oogway never attended to the problems around that area. Why so remained a mystery for decades.

Until few members of the Five, along with few imperial soldiers, went to investigate.

_**3 years ago...**_

_Tigress, Crane and Mantis were sent along few imperial soldiers to the Pyiang province to investigate whatever was occurring in that area. After several pleads from citizens and authorities the Emperor had no choice but do something about it, after a meeting with Master Oogway they sent a group to the region to report the situation. _

_"So what's the point of all of this?" Mantis asked looking back at the imperials. "Sure, this place is odd, but does it has that threatening feeling to the empire?"_

_"I don't know Mantis," Tigress said while eyeing carefully the surroundings. "Only thing I know is that we need to carry on our mission and find out what's going on." _

_"This place seems desert," Crane said while looking at the great plan near the mountain. The ground wasn't grassy, but everything had a death appearance on that place. Even the small forest seemed unnatural in a place like that. "It's just me or there's a fog forming up?" _

_Crane wasn't mistaken, their view was getting interrupted by a dense fog forming near the forest._

_"How that possible?There was a bright sun just few moments ago!" Mantis said looking back to see where the light went to._

_"You mean few miles ago," Tigress eyes were closing slowly." It's hard to see, but we can still hear. Crane, do you think you can clear this fog?" _

_"Not a problem," Crane went forward. "Wings of Justice!" _

_The huge wave of wind produced by Crane's wings was powerful, but to the avian's shock it made no effect on the fog. _

_"How's that possible?" The waterfowl asked, impressed that he got no results. _

_"This is bad," Mantis said jumping over Crane's hat. "We should back up a bit." _

_"No, we keep moving," Tigress wasn't willing to go back." No time to waste here thinking, keep moving." _

_The female tiger ordered the soldiers to proceed. They did, but even the feared imperial troops were getting concerned about their situation._

_"Excuse me Master," Said one of the soldiers to Crane." But we shouldn't set a place to organize and set a course of action?" _

_"Huh?" Crane had no idea what he was talking about since the waterfowl wasn't familiarized with military strategy._

_"We are proceeding blindly in enemy territory, shouldn't we rethink this carefully?" He said with more urgency. The others around him seemed to agree. _

_Tigress frowned._

_"What kind of soldiers are you?Afraid of the unknown?" _

_The man who talked with Crane didn't like it._

_"Well, no offense, you might be brave but I heard that courage and foolishness walk close to each other," He said with some arrogance. Crane and Mantis gulped nervously when they heard the growl of Tigress, but surprisingly the soldier wasn't intimidated._

_"You will follow my orders, and if you're not happy with it then you can go back to the emperor and tell him personally why you didn't want to keep with us," Tigress threatened him by stepping closer and looking him directly in the eyes. _

_The man felt his confidence being shaken by her words and just stared to the side. _

_"We should...WATCH OUT!" Yelled Crane suddenly. Then, out of nowhere, an arrow came with blindly speed and took one of the soldiers down with a direct hit on his neck. They all watched as the leopard fell to the ground dead. _

_"GET COVER!" Yelled one of them and all the others ran to any direction they could to get out of the firing range._

_"NO, STAY TOGETHER, DON'T GET TOO FAR!" The man who had challenged Tigress was desperate when he saw the mess that his comrades were causing._

_"Crane!Where that arrow came from?" Tigress asked with urgency. Crane seemed nervous._

_"I don't know, I just heard it coming. From some point in that direction," The waterfowl stared directly at the area where the forest could be, but the fog was making everything harder. Then more arrows were coming out of the blue and few manage to hit their targets. Crane felt something pass his left wing and he saw a thin hole formed between his feathers. _

_"I got hit," He said more calmly than normal. _

_"Are you hurt?" The female tiger asked checking on him._

_"No, but that was a close one. We should move." _

_"Agreed, follow me,"_

_Tigress guided Mantis and Crane through the fog, she did her best using her senses to find a __clearance. In the mean time they could hear the cries of the soldiers that were dying around them without the group even being able to see what was happening._

_"Okay, now I'm getting worried," Mantis said chuckling nervously. _

_"This is no good, what we'll do Tigress?" Crane asked while trying to not fell over a large rock or branch. He wasn't very good at running on his feet._

_"We need to get out here, that's the only thing I can think of," She said harshly. They kept running blindly for few minutes until they finally reached higher ground and the fog wasn't so intense at the area. It was possible to see few meters ahead. A terrifying silence was present in the air._

_"W..we got out, that was intense," Mantis said jumping off of Crane's hat. Crane and Tigress looked around carefully. _

_"This isn't good, we have no idea at where are we," Crane said while checking his wing again. If it had hit few centimeters upper it would have been a terrible blow. Tigress only shared a quick glance at him. _

_"No, but I believe that we're in the forest, which makes our situation no better." _

_"Should we keep up?I mean, we just lost our friends back there," Mantis said being sad about the soldiers. _

_"They weren't our friends Mantis," Tigress said being somewhat uneasy. _

_"Even so they were here to help us, and now they're gone and we couldn't do anything to help them," Crane said feeling even worse by what happened._

_Tigress closed her eyes. If there was something that really bothered her was the fact that Crane was always right, they couldn't do anything to help, and that was a painful thing to deal with._

_"We...should get out of here," She said with a long sigh. Crane and Mantis were surprise._

_"Are you sure?What about the mission?" Mantis asked. _

_"I'm not gonna lose anyone else, much less any of you two. Let's ge..._

_Tigress voice shut when she suddenly heard a snap close to them. The other two heard it too and quickly stood on their fighting stances. _

_"Who's there?!" Tigress asked eyeing carefully between the barely visible trees near them. _

_Silence._

_"I have a bad feeling about this," Mantis said, but Tigress made him shut with a death glance. "Sorry." _

_Then another arrow came quickly as any arrow they have ever seen and hit Crane on the side. The avian screamed in pain when he felt the sharp metal hit his right wing and almost penetrate his lung. If he hadn't tried to block the attack it would have been proved fatal. _

_"Crane!" Screamed Tigress and Mantis while kneeling down besides the waterfowl. At this their attackers took the opportunity and surrounded them. They were dozens, and each one armed with deadly weapons and almost each one seemed to have a bow and arrows._

_Tigress and Mantis froze when they saw there was no escape for them, Crane was bleeding badly and wouldn't hold much longer. Them one of the men wearing a black and sinister outfit approached them slowly._

_"Are you imperials?" He asked with coldness and severity. Tigress growled._

_"What do you want?" She asked while keeping her hand over Crane's wound to stop the bleeding. Mantis had no idea of what to do without anything to use that could seal the wound. _

_"Answer my question, are you imperials?" The man asked again harshly. _

_"No, we're not imperials," Tigress said, Crane was shaking badly making it difficult for her to keep a grip over his injury. _

_The man stared for few seconds at them while thinking, then another stranger approached and said some words the others couldn't hear. The first one nodded. _

_"I shall warn you that this area is forbidden for outsiders, especially men of the empire. I'll let you go, but you shall not return here again or we'll kill you. Bring me a healer," He ordered to someone at the surrounds. "We'll help your friend, he won't make it too far in that condition. You're lucky we'll let you out of this one." _

_"Who are you?" Tigress asked. _

_"We're renegades of the empire, we shall not live under his tirany again, we'll free this country of all the maliciousness and corruptness."  
><em>

_Tigress thought he was some kind of lunatic, but they were many and she knew there was no chance to stand against them, not this time. A healer came in and quickly aided Crane carefully treating him. Tigress could see that the healer was a female wolf, which was something rare to see. After the bird was set in strong bandages they were dispatched. The renegades took them through a different path and the three found themselves near the Uiyalang province, which was right next to Pyiang. _

_They looked back and saw that their captors were already gone. _

_"That was some crazy s..." Mantis started but Tigress made him shut. _

_"Are you ok, Crane?" Tigress asked with more softness than usual to the avian. The bandage was surrounding his belly to make sure it wouldn't fall off easily._

_"I'm good, whoever that woman was she is good at this kind of thing, I don't even feel pain anymore," Crane said with a smile. _

_"Let's go home, we have a lot to explain to Master Oogway and Master Shifu."_

**Present Time... **

"I don't get it, what's so terrifying about this place?" Po asked stopping all of sudden and staring back at Tigress and Monkey. Both of them shared a quick glance.

"They never told you about a mission where few of us went along some imperials to explore the area, did they?" Monkey questioned raising and eyebrow.

"What mission?" Po asked being now very curious.

"A mission panda, a mission that killed men of the emperor and almost got Crane killed too," Tigress said it calmly but deep inside still it would bother her.

"Really?Never heard about that before, what happened?" Po look at them expectantly, but none of them would talk about it.

"Doesn't matter anymore, just listen carefully when I say that I'll not take any risks while going to that place, if I see anything odd or unusual we'll go back, do you understand?" Tigress voice was filled with venom. Po gulped.

"Oh...yeah...ok, sure, no problem...at..any..huh...yeah, what you said!Ok..." Po step back nervously.

"Good, we better get going, Shifu will miss us any time sooner."

**A/N: Oh, the suspense is forming up, someone said that the humor scenes were getting rare and I agreed, I should brought that again, I'll try...have a nice weekend!**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N:(Charlie ) Well, Crane asked me to PM everyone that reads this story so they could catch up with it again. I'll be updating the story and working along with Shen's General if possible to complete it. I won't promise weekly updates like he did, but hopefully we can do things going the same way they were going and make a fantastic job with this one. I'll be answering reviews as well.**

"I'm not talking about a damn thing at all."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm don't want to, that's why."

"But Shen..."

"I don't want to hear it, Crane."

"Maybe he should take a bath, will help."

"No time for that Mei Ling, this is serious."

"I'm being serious too, trust me. I don't know what's wrong with him, but nothing that a good relaxing bath can't resolve."

Crane was trying to have a private conversation with the peacock for mostly like twelve minutes, but resulted in nothing. Then Mei Ling came only to taunt a bit and now she was suggesting for Shen to take a bath. It was hard to say if that was meant as an offense or she was being honest.

Mei Ling knew Shen was disturbed, she wasn't sure if it was because what she said earlier.

"Huang, maybe we could help Shen...to..."

"To what?" Crane asked wondering what she had in mind, even Shen looked behind at curiosity.

"Hum...I don't know, my mind went blank...it's weird," She said feeling embarrassed.

Crane raised an eyebrow, but the avian decided to not make any comment about it.

"I do have something to talk about...but privately," Shen said eyeing Mei Ling carefully. The mountain cat seemed upset.

"Fine, I'll go to my room then," She said leave the room without saying no more. Crane sighed.

"What's disturbing you so much Shen?" Crane asked hoping that the peacock wouldn't burst into anger again. The waterfowl was glad that he hadn't to pass through one of those "moments" with Shen since his first days in the palace.

"Remember that day...that you said I was no worth saving?" The peacock said, his voice trembling a bit.

Crane's face hardened due the attempt to remember when he said such. Then the memory came as a punch to the face.

"I remember," Crane knew he would regret what he said at that day, he just wasn't expecting it would be under the present circumstances."Shen, I..."

"I know you're sorry about that, and I believe you."

"You...you do?" Crane was shocked. The peacock nodded slowly. "Shen..you know I care a lot about you, but this situation has become extremely dangerous. If something happens..."

Crane silenced, he didn't seem able to express by words his worst fears.

"You're afraid of losing Mei Ling again, and also afraid of what might happen to her if something happens with you. You're also concerned about my safety and can't decide on what to do since you know you'll lose one or another or maybe even both.

Crane chuckled sadly.

"You really know what disturbs other people, don't you?"

"After spending so much time with the Soothsayer you end learning something, in my case it wasn't exactly what I had to learn, I think."

"Well, better late than never," Crane said while opening the door to leave.

"Wait!There's something I need to tell you," Shen said making Crane turn around.

"What?"

"I've met with Fenghuang again few moments ago,"

"What?!And what happened?"

Shen felt a bit uneasy now.

"Hum...she seemed to be trying to tempt me to join her,"

"Ha, that's the kind of thing she would indeed," Crane said disappointed." I wonder if she will ever change..."

"Why not?It happened with me," Shen said censuring Crane's pessimism. The waterfowl got surprise.

"Oh, well, yeah, but...I guess,"

"Well, moving on. She said she had form an army and was planning some mysterious scheme to assault to Jade Palace and-

"Kill us all?" Crane wondered.

"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!...As I was saying, planning an assault on the Palace and submit you all, if any of you resisted you'll be locked forever in the deepest cave."

"That's doesn't look so bad," Crane said with sarcasm. That was a mistake.

"WILL YOU TAKE WHAT I SAY SERIOUSLY OR NOT!?"

"Err...alright, alright, sorry," Crane responded quickly. Shen calmed a bit after few seconds.

"Why you're telling me this anyway?"

Shen's expression turn dark and sinister.

"I'm telling you this because I want to be dignified of your trust,"

"Oh, you...wow, I..."

There were moments that Crane couldn't understand what Shen expected from him or what he would want for Crane to expect. Right now Shen seemed a man who was willing to change his way, even it that could mean to change his way to be entirely. At least most of it.

"Do YOU trust me...Jien?"

Shen stared at Crane in a way that stunned Crane deeply. There was no anger, or suspicion or any sign of the Shen they saw back at Gongmen.

It was a pleading stare.

"You called me Jien?"

"I did," Shen said softly.

"Oh, Shen...I do trust you...deeply. And also...I think that...you're like part of our family now. You know?...you, me and the others. I do care about you a lot and I admit that, I care about you like I care about Mei Ling. It doesn't goes through my mind anymore the possibility that you'll betray us. We know we can count with you, for anything."_ 'At least most of us does'_

Shen didn't know why but those words hurt deeply on him, in a good way of course. The peacock felt his eyes tearing a bit, after so much time he finally had gain something he never though he would have. Pure friendship.

"Thank you, for everything. I certain that no one else would have take the risk like you did to save me, you're an honorable man, and I'm glad to have met you in this life."

"Err...okay. Me too Shen."

There was an odd silence after that in which both stared at each other quietly.

"You know...it's been a long time since I mate someone..." The peacock said casually. Crane automatically took a step back.

"Really?So what you're planning to do?Find someone special?"

"I'm not sure if I have to go much far to find that person," That phrase made Crane extremely nervous.

"Oh, wow, yeah...that's good. You can...well, I need to go now, later,"

"Stop," Crane stopped at the door, his eyes shut in apprehension to what could happen next. "I need to tell you something else, and...to Mei Ling too. Bring her here."

The waterfowl sighed, He knew what was going to happen and he was afraid of it, getting Mei Ling involved into this could make things a lot worse. Even so the avian did not have a choice other than comply with the request. He didn't to let Shen down, not now that the peacock need him so much.

Crane entered Ling's room only to find her sitting over the bed quietly. This behavior gave Crane the clue she was listening them both talking in the room nearby.

"I know," She said confirm Crane's suspects. "I'm coming with you."

"Are you aware of what he might want to discuss?" Crane asked with a warning tone of voice. Mei Ling shrugged.

"Maybe yes, maybe no. Let's go find out,"

Both of them returned to Crane's room. Shen didn't made any movement when they came in, the peacock seem to be concentrating deeply in his thoughts.

"Shen, she's here. What do you-

"I want to talk with you both about something really personal. This can't wait anymore," Shen seemed a bit terrified. Mei Ling and Crane eyed each other.

"Go ahead,"

**Meanwhile...**

"Hello there," A voice said behind Tigress, Monkey and Po. The group turned around to face a stranger standing still looking at them, his umfamiliar face made hard to tell what specias he was, but he seemed clearly strong just by looking at his physic. "Now try to not move at all, I don't feel the need of killing you all so soon," He was keeping a bow with three arrows pointed at them. From he distance he was from the group it would be difficult to avoid getting hit or even block the arrows.

"Who are you?" Tigress asked in a demanding way.

"It doesn't matter who I am tiger, only that I'm the one that decides if you all live or die, now stay there quietly, my companions will be arriving soon."

"Hey, uh. I'm Po..." The panda said nervously.

"So?"

"Do you know someone called Koslov?" The stranger raised an eyebrow being surprise.

"YOU know Koslov?How's that possible?" Po chuckled.

"He's a old friend of mine, I came here looking for him, we kinda need help."

The stranger sighed.

"Great, Koslov is going to get me into trouble again," He said more to himself than anyone else. "Why do you need help for?"

"It's imperial stuff we're facing," Monkey said while trying to think in a way to strike the stranger. "What are you anyway?"

"I'm a wolf, but that doesn't matter. You said imperial?...if you're not lying, maybe I can help you."

"Why would you want to help us?We don't even know who you are," Tigress said in disagreement. The wolf chuckled.

"The only thing you need to know is that I hate the empire, and me and my companions have been working together for years to bring the emperor down."

"Then you must be one of the renegades," Tigress eyes flinched. The wolf smiled.

"That's correct, surprises me that you know how we're called by, you must have been here before. Even so...what matters now is if we can trust you and your friends. Hey Po, you said you know Koslov?" The panda nodded. "Alright, I can bring him here and see how it's going to be, but I won't make any promises that you all won't get hurt if you do anything stupid."

"We won't, we won't," Monkey said in a hurry. Tigress stared at the simian severely. "What?I like peaceful meetings, you could learn a lot more with Crane ya know?"

"You know what?I might regret this, but...since you're familiar with Koslov I can find someone to talk with you," The wolf said slowly at deep wonder."I'm not gonna play fool here so you all will go ahead in front of me to make sure you don't try anything."

Tigress and Po eyed each other.

_"Do you trust him?"_ Tigress whispered.

_"I trust Koslov, if Koslov trust him I think we can move along, we just have to make sure he can trust us,_" Po replied discretely.

_"So we just do as he says?" _

_"Do we have much of a choice?"_

_"He only got a bow with arrows, how dangerous he can be?"_ Tigress couldn't understand what Po was thinking.

_"It's not about beating him down, but also he'll take us right were we want to go. it's a free pass, kind of,"_ Tigress was surprise with Po's idea.

_"Very well then." _

**Meanwhile... **

"Ok, just...hum...let me get this straight," Crane said while trying to recover from the shock."Are you saying that...you actually felt something for her?"

Shen groaned annoyed.

"Yes, don't make me repeat it again. I'm telling what I feel, it doesn't matter for me what you think about it, it's only about me after all."

"How this developed?I mean...didn't seem like you two were...that close, or even close at all," Crane said looking at Mei Ling hoping for an answer.

"What?I'm surprise too, even so you can't blame a guy that gets attracted all of sudden," The mountain cat said censuring Crane's reaction.

"I know," The waterfowl said feeling a bit embarrassed." but...Fenghuang?

Crane have been trough a lot in his life, even so for some reason this was probably being the most odd situation he ever faced before. Him being in his room at Jade Palace with Mei Ling talking with Lord Shen about the peacock's developed feelings for Fenghuang. That was very unrealistic.

"I think this might turn to be another problem that will get me screwed," Crane said not liking much of the information. Mei Ling punched the avian on the shoulder. "Ouch!What was that for?"

"Stop thinking on yourself first. Shen probably wants our help and you just sit there and start complaining about how hard it will be for you. You got me already, now we're together isn't everything in life worthy?" She said sounding a bit disappointed. Crane couldn't think on anything to retort at her words, it was the purest true.

"Sorry," Crane said lowering his head. "I...I'm not meaning to think like that, it's just we've been trough a lot already. I'm a bit tired, I'm not that young as before."

"I know," She said hugging him slightly. "Just remember that after all this things will change and we'll compensate all those years we lost. It's time to forget the past, focus on the present and have hopes for the future."

"I do have hopes, always" Crane said hugging her back with a soft smile. Shen immediately coughed hard to remember then he was still there." Oh, sorry Shen."

"Maybe there's a small hope you are forgetting about," He said with severity.

"What?Which one?

"I hope I can survive the present to live the future, because things aren't settle quite well for me yet," Crane sighed.

"I'm sorry, I shoul- Shen interrupted him by lifting his wing.

"You've been sorry too much already, it's time to start acting and stop giving excuses. You're a man of words, but this time words won't help all the time. It's time to take decisions faster, if you hesitate people will die."

"Well, that's a leader thing, you know?And I'm not the leader of anything, if you're looking for someone like that you should talk with Tigress, but she doesn't likes you very much," Crane said while looking around uncomfortably.

"Surprises me a bit, a leader is wise and Tigress is too much focused on what I did in the past to forgive me, a leader is also kind. You have everything that even the emperor would want for his most loyal men, you're just lacking of courage."

"What?I'm not a coward!" Crane said feeling suddenly angry by what he heard. Mei Ling wondered where this was going and pretended she wasn't there.

"But you're not that brave, every single decision you took was made after a lot of wondering, most of them out of necessity of so much reflection. "

"That isn't true!" Crane said trying to remember of any of those situations.

"Then why took you so long to get along with Mei Ling?Weren't you afraid of being rejected?"

At this the mountain cat tensed a bit, Shen was delivering a low blow at Crane, but it was the best example he could give.

"Well, I...I wasn't...sure if..." The waterfowl was panicking a bit.

"I know it's normal to be unsure, but you at least _tried_ to do anything to get closer to her?"

Crane lowered his head ashamed of himself. Shen was right, Crane was too afraid to try anything at Mei Ling, even talking to her at that time used to be hard for him. He was so nervous around her that there was a time he tried to avoid getting close to the mountain cat. That only costed him two decades of his life and earned him a whole different life of duties and suffering.

Mei Ling felt that odd feeling she had for Crane on the last years coming deep from her again. The one of being rejected. After she met Crane for the first time she always tried to get close to him, she could understand his shyness, but sometimes she honestly thought he didn't like her. And that was hard to deal with. She notice during her time at the academy that Crane always tried to keep away from her even if they studied in the same class. It turned hard to even talk with the avian since he always would give excuses to go away. It disturbed her a lot, and after Crane left it only made her felt worse.

Mei Ling never wanted to tell Crane what she really thought about him being selected for Jade Palace instead of her. She wondered why they didn't pick her since she was the best at that time, seeing Crane being invited instead of her was...unfair.

And also she didn't want to lose him, despite how Crane would avoid her at least the mountain cat would try to develop a great friendship with him.

"I...thought she would never want me because...I was different," Crane's voice came out really weak. The mountain cat was shocked.

"Different?Different how?" Shen apparently didn't get it, but Mei Ling did. Her face carrying a petrified expression.

"You know...she's a cat and..well. I though she would want to go with someone more like her," Crane was trying his best to not look at Mei Ling.

"You're such an idiot," Crane's head lifted at surprise, it wasn't Shen who insulted him but Mei Ling instead. "I loved you since the first day, and after that I always tried to get closer, but you avoided me. I never wanted to be with anyone else than you. I knew you were the one that made part of my destiny. Despite everything I've been through I never lost the hope of us finally getting together. I loved you more that anything Jien, even more than my family."

"The Wu?I bet a lot of people would love something else more than them," Shen commented with irony. Mei Ling's sudden psychotic stare at Shen was enough to make him keep silent.

Crane felt so lost at her words that he didn't paid attention at Shen mocking. It felt like being stabbed when she said she always wanted to be with him. Crane knew she was special at that time, but he never expected her to be so...unique.

The waterfowl felt his eyes tearing a bit.

"Forgive me...forgive me, I didn't...I...- Mei Ling gripped Crane's beak gently.

"Don't cry, big boys don't cry, but I love to see how sensitive you are."

"Pffttt!" Shen mocked again.

"Can you promise me just one thing?" Mei Ling asked. Crane nodded while sobbing. "Don't die."

"Why you're crying?!I'm the one who should be crying!I'm gonna be executed and you're the one crying for nothing?" Shen was undignified.

"He's crying by thinking of how much a pain in the ass you're gonna be for Fenghuang." Mei Ling retorted.

**A/N: And that's chapter 30, after a loooonnnngggg time it's here, and I found some inspiration to do this in a different way, new chapter may come in the next 2 weeks, that's a promise. Have a great weekend!**


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Well, there you go!Chapter 31 of the new era of Forgotten Hope, surely there will be a lot more to come in this year, but the fic will only be done next year. Hope you enjoy! **

**Drama sapphire; **

I'm happy you liked Drama!It's good to see you again!

**Shen's General; **

Yeah, that was shocking indeed, Crane and I had an argument about the story and after a LOT of screams we decided to keep it up still this year. I'll introduce you OC when possible, there's still a lot of ground to cover til there.

**A Big Fan; **

Calm down, two weeks is the limit time for update, not minimum. Don't worry, with some lucky it will be at every weekend again.

**Anonymousrules; **

Lol, yeah the ending was funny!

**ShifuFanatic; **

Yep, it will keep on, stay tuned.

**Unrealistic23; ****Shooting Star; **

Glad to bring story back indeed.

**Kingstonofdeath; **

I'm happy you loved it man, I hope to see you again and the others at the new updates!

**DSAP; **

I'll try to do the same style as Crane did, but the will be notable differences, besides I'm sure he'll be back at the end of the year.

**Unilever; **

No problem man, take your time.

**XdIAZ; **

Lol, nice review, glad you like those.

**Meanwhile...**

Po, Tigress and Monkey were being carefully escorted by the renegade wolf. The panda seemed quite comfortable despite having an arrow appointed at his back. Tigress and Monkey were still at distrust with Po's plan and both were still trying to find a way to sub-judge their captor. The only reason they couldn't figure out anything yet was that the wolf was keeping s good reasonable distance from them, not too close that he could be punched or kicked, or not too far that they would try to run away and make hard for the wolf to shoot precisely at them.

"Man, I'm hungry. You guys are gonna lunch or something soon?" Po asked while holding firmly his belly. The wolf raised an eyebrow.

"Err...I don't know, I think we have more important things to do than eat." He said harshly.

"But I'm hungry!If I don't eat I die!" Po complained.

"You'll die if you don't behave yourself carefully, so shut it please,"

"How long til we get there?" Monkey was getting tired of walking so much.

"Few minutes, not too long now..."

"Where's the entrance anyway?" Po asked casually.

"It's behind the large waterfa...!" The wolf immediately realized his big mistake. "Ah, dammit!"

Before he could raise his bow to deliver a fatal shot, Monkey and Tigress sprinted quickly to the sides splitting up and leaving Po as the only target available at the middle. Surprisingly the wolf ignored the panda and tried to aim either for Tigress or Monkey. He spotted the simian for a brief second, but it was enough to deliver a shot. The arrow nearly hit Monkey at the neck, that surprised the simian a lot, he wasn't expecting such accuracy.

Tigress took the opportunity and charged at the wolf. He did his best to deliver another shot, unfortunately when his hand moved to grab another arrow his hand only felt the air behind his back. He turned his eyes to see Po with his bag, the arrows were spread around the floor while the panda looked inside for any snacks.

"Ah, dammit..." The wolf said before blacking out after being hit by Tigress hardly and pinned against a tree. The female tiger unleashed her claws to finish the wolf, but was stop by Po.

"What you're doing?!He's down already!" Po seemed shocked. Tigress didn't respond, she let the grip over the wolf's neck release. Now the renegade was laying motionless at the floor.

"What we should do?" Monkey said while looking at the wolf.

"We keep moving, now we know were they're hiding," Tigress said looking at Po. "You better be sure of what you're doing, one of them was hard enough, but dozens..."

"Trust me, I know," Po said confidently." If we found Koslov before any other of them we'll be fine."

"Shouldn't we call for help?" Monkey suggested. The simian wasn't felling comfortable with the idea of facing large numbers and having the odds immensely big against them.

"Maybe, but we're too far from the Valley now. Til we get back our wolf friend will have us reported and they'll be watching the area more carefully," Tigress started walking towards the waterfowl they had spotted at distance few moments ago.

"I agree with Tigress," Po said following her. Monkey rolled his eyes.

"No surprise, it's Tigress that's why," The simian said in a mocking manner. Po chuckled.

"Yeah, well...let's go."

**Meanwhile...**

Crane and Mei Ling were passing the end of afternoon discussing about Shen's love interest. S subject that wasn't pleasing Crane in the slightest since Mei Ling wasn't aware of who Fenghuang really was. It was hard to convince the mountain cat that the owl wasn't going to change her ways in the next forty years or more. Crane tried to argue, but every time he tried to prove he was right the mountain cat would use the waterfowl as the best example against his own words.

"He used to be one of us, now she only wants revenge," Crane said while trying to paint a new picture. Mei Ling was sitting at his 'bed'. She seemed a bit upset.

"So?Shen was the same and YOU made him different, sometimes he reminds me of you." The waterfowl.

"Even if Shen develops a relationship with her Master Shifu wouldn't accept him in here, and it's too dangerous for Shen to leave the palace."

"Master Shifu accepted me and him. Why not her?Sure is dangerous, Master Shifu would be aware of it as well, and that's a good excuse to make her stay."

"She won't change," Crane said more harshly this time, he accidentally mixed the colors in his picture. Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"Because?..."

"Because...because...you probably will think I'm stupid if I say it," Crane lowered his head. Mei Ling chuckled.

"I won't, I promise, please tell me what bothers you about that,"

"I think she might use him, and once she strikes on us when we let our guard down...she'll kill Shen too,"

"Love is not something to play with, Crane, " The mountain cat said severely. Crane sighed.

"I know...it's not that easy to develop some trust on a person that has done so much wrong, and yet you try to help him to change, and in the end if someone get's hurt, it's all your fault."

Mei Ling tensed a bit at this.

"You trust Shen, don't you?"

"I do, but I can't let my guard down yet."

Mei Ling came next to Crane, she laid her hands over his neck and gently started to caress it.

"When all this is over I think I know a place were we won't have nothing to worry anymore except each other. What do you think?"

Crane closed his eyes when he felt her soft hands caressing him gently. It's was a great relief to have her with him, he felt as if there was no reason to worry about anything at moment.

"Just being with you here like this feels the same," Crane said turning and looking deeply at her beautiful golden eyes. They kissed briefly, before Shen came storming at the door. The peacock calmed down quickly when he saw the scene, the couple broke the kiss quickly.

"Hum...Shen, y-you need anything?" Crane asked nervously while blushing a bit. He hoped the peacock haven't notice.

"You two are going to have sex again?" He asked.

Crane felt his face melting instantly while covering his eyes with both wings. Almost same was happening with Mei Ling but, unlike Crane, she was able to held her stare at the peacock.

"Shen, if you have nothing important to say just go."

"Actually Shifu is next to me, he wants to talk with you both," The peacock said smiling evilly.

Crane and Mei Ling couldn't be more embarrassed and upset with the peacock than now. The door opened a bit more revealing the red panda staring severely at them. He sighed briefly, as if he was a relieved. Maybe Shifu though they were naked when Shen talked about the sex part.

"Master Shifu," Crane and Mei Ling were about to bow, but Shifu raised his hand to stop them.

"No need for that at the moment, we have problems and I summoned everyone to the Sacred Hall, but we couldn't find any sign of Tigress, Po or Monkey, and that's only a secondary problem."

Everyone present made a concerned face.

"What's the matter?" Crane asked hoping it wasn't too bad.

"The Imperials arrived."

**7 minutes ago...**

Viper and Mantis were down at the village, the insect passed hours trying to consulate the snake after Crane said to her he was dating the mountain cat. After a lot of rage and tears her behavior had improved tremendously well, he even managed to forget about the avian. Viper was having so much fun with Mantis, something she never though would be possible since she really believed he was a jerk like most mans. Now she was present with the most soft side of Mantis that anyone could ever believe it was possible.

"...and he never said it was to happen, but it did!" Mantis finished with a loud laugh. Viper was barely paying attention while thinking on the good day they were having for the first time ever. And she thought she knew her friends so well after so many years together. Crane and Mantis were a great example that she didn't.

They haven't notice that a huge squad of imperial soldiers had just entered in the city. Only after they heard screams from some villagers that panicked thinking it was an invasion the two were aware of what was happening. Mantis and Viper moved around the city while watching the Imperials moving towards the jade mountain.

"Oh, no, they got here way sooner than we thought!We need to warn Master Shifu!" Mantis said with urgency. Viper agreed and moved along with the bug through a different path to the Jade Palace.

**Present time...**

"WHAT?!But..but..how?!" Crane was extremely shocked by the news, but the true is that the most scaring part was to see Shen, who had white feathers, to become much more white than usual.

"We don't know!" Shifu said exasperated. "They must be aware of a different path we aren't, I just can't imagine which one. What matters now is that they're coming upstairs and there nothing we can do at the moment to avoid then."

Crane felt at the loss of words, he couldn't believe it. Mei Ling was staring sadly at the peacock, she wondered what was going through his head at the moment. Shen kept silent, his eyes were enough to express his mix of feelings, the most apparent being fear.

"They brought someone of high importance from the Imperial Palace to represent their presence here. The only thing that matters now it's that we need to find a way to talk with this individual and see what we can do about it," The red panda was walking in short circles while thinking on any inspiring ideas.

"Can we fight back?" Mei Ling asked.

"No!" Both Crane and Shifu responded. They all stared at Crane. The avian sighed.

"I'm not risking anyone lives here today, don't even think about it," He said with some anger. The waterfowl refused to risk Ling's life for something they didn't know how would develop. The mountain cat was disappointed.

"I guess...I should give up then..." Shen said slowly as if he was talking with himself.

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Crane got even angrier. "I didn't went through all this just to see you throw your life away so stupidly like that!You have no right to gave up!"

"You really want to pick a fight today, it seems," Shen wasn't much surprise with Crane's reaction as the others were. The waterfowl grunted.

"If I have too, but that's me," He said looking directly at Mei Ling. "He's my responsibility, so-

"So you better shut up sweetie, other wise I won't play with you again for a good time," Mei Ling said playfully, but with some venom. Crane was dumbfounded.

Shifu and Shen stared at each other briefly with odd looks. None of them really wanting to know what the cat mean by 'play'.

**Meanwhile... **

"It's getting late, we better find a place to sleep, we'll get to that cave tomorrow," Tigress informed as she watched the last beams of sunlight disappearing through the trees.

"Finally!" Monkey cheered happily, he was exhausted of so much walking. A loud groan scared him out." What was that?!"

"Sorry, I haven't eat anything since the breakfast. Man, this sucks," Po complained. Tigress rolled her eyes.

"Argh, how hard it's to hear you complain about food all the time?Do you have any idea how annoying it is?!"

Po stood still quietly, his expression saddened deeply. Tigress immediately realized she said that way too harsh.

"Po,*sigh* I'll go around and see if I can find any supplies. You and Monkey stay here and make sure to keep out spot safe."

The female tiger eyed the panda carefully waiting for a confirmation. Po nodded briefly, that was enough for Tigress to leave after supplies. Moenky came near Po to talk.

"So...What exactly is your plan?I'm not sure how you expect that such dangerous group of strangers might help us. It's unlikely,"

"Koslov is a great friend of mine, I know I can trust him," Po said confidently.

"You trust Crane?" The simian suddenly asked. Po blinked confused.

"What?What you're talking about?"

"Well Po, Crane just brought a homicidal peacock to the palace under good intentions and all. But...why you never told anyone?"

"Told what?" Monkey's face hardened.

"That he killed your parents and destroyed you village,"

"WH...who told you-

"Mei Ling did, me and Monkey were passing by when we heard her talking with Master Shifu. The only reason we never talked with you about it before it's that we didn't want you to think that Crane hadn't kept keep it a secret."

"Who told Crane?!" Po asked being even more shocked. At this Monkey's eyes went wide.

"You didn't?!Then...who?"

There was a moment of silence were both spent the time thinking on the possibility.

"You don't think that..." Po said thoughtfully. Monkey nodded. "But why would he talk about such?Wouldn't he think that Crane might had change his mind about him?It wouldn't be smart at all. Even I know that despite not...huh...being the most intelligent," Po scratched the back of his head nervously. Monkey chuckled.

"I totally agree with you, but who knows how Shen's mind works anyway?He's logical on his own way, there's no how to prevent any action of his own. You and Crane can sit along and talk about it later, right now we have a lot to worry about,"

"Yeah, you're right," Po couldn't help but feel disappointed that Crane never though about talking over the subject personally.

**Meanwhile... **

Crane, Shen and Mei Ling joined with Shifu, Viper and Mantis at the Hall of Warriors. The situation had become extremely tense.

"Viper, Mantis, how many soldiers you think they have?" Master Shifu asked formally to his students.

"Probably over seven hundred, not really sure," Mantis said at doubt.

"That doesn't look much," Mei Ling said with disbelief.

"For imperial troops?That's a heck of a lot!" The bug replied nervously. Viper and Crane nodded at agreement.

"What should we do?We can't fight back, and surrender Shen to then it's out of question," Crane said firmly. Shen felt uneasy, he never though the other avian would ever do such thing for him, or even anyone else.

"Calm down Crane, we need to think about this, we can use diplomacy. You and me are the best at such, I need you to not let your feelings get in the way," Master Shifu was tense as well, but managed to think clearly, something that Crane wasn't able to do very well lately. The waterfowl took a deep breath.

"Yes, Master. I'll do my best," The waterfowl said while having his eyes covered by the straw hat. Mei Ling then remove it from his head. Crane looked at her with wonder.

"You can't use a hat in a diplomatic encounter of such level, it's rude," She said almost as if excusing herself for doing such. Crane nodded and smiled briefly.

"We shall get going to met them. Viper, Ling and Mantis will stay here with Shen to make sure his at safety, be careful." Shifu warned before walking outside along with Master Crane. After the doors shut an intense silence fell over those who remained at the Hall of Warriors.

Crane and Shifu kept walking til the main entrance, they could see the imperial troops ascending over the stairs leaded by an unknown individual.

"Huang," Shifu called, it shocked Crane to hear SHifu calling him by his first name."If things end badly, make sure you and the others get out of here safely,"

"Master?What you're saying?" The waterfowl couldn't believe in what he was hearing at the moment. Shifu sighed deeply.

"Forgive me for not giving you the importance you deserved, you have been the most essential part of the Five for a long time, maybe I should have told you this earlier. You made much more difference than even you would imagine. I never choose you to lead the Five cause I knew that would put your life at a biggest risk than it already was. Tigress was train to deal with such, but you weren't. You're the best example of a disciplined kung fu warrior and student than anyone else could be, and I'm deeply proud of you."

Crane felt his eyes tearing intensely, after so many years of sacrifice and suffering, after so many fights and deaths, so many hopes and nightmares. He did it, he was recognize by one of the biggest kung fu masters of all time. Crane felt his dream was finally complete, and now...he finally felt he was free to go.

"T-t...thank..y-you...Shifu," Crane cleared the tears away with his wing. Shifu tapped him friendly. The troops were only few meters away now.

"I never said this to anyone, but...you hearth is bigger than your experience, and that works better than any kung fu style."

**A/N: :´P**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Horray!I'm glad to see people coming back to this story!I hope to see everyone else coming back in the next chapters, sure they'll be here soon. And also I'm pleased to announce that Master Crane will be coming back to manage the story again so...Horray!**

**Mostly because I delay updates too much and that pissed him off a lot. :P **

Night was arriving quickly and people from all around China were setting for the evening. At places like Valley of Peace night would be long, really long.

Crane and Shifu met with the leader of the imperial convoy, for their great surprise it was no one else than the youngest son of the emperor, Dai Lu Yan. The young jaguar presented himself with extreme polity and wasted no time to reveal his intentions for making himself present with such vast force behind him. It was notable he an important man, only his clothes, made of the finest silk with a golden touch, were enough to show how much significant he was.

Crane and Shifu introduced themselves shortly and showed no signs of surprise when Dai Lu Yan talked about being after Lord Shen.

"May I ask you how the emperor got the information he was residing here?" The red panda asked formally to the jaguar. Dai Lu chuckled.

"Wasn't that hard, Master Shifu. Your little trip along the Five didn't pass unnoticed, but after defeating Lord Shen we got shocked when we heard you had summoned him to the Jade Palace, when obviously he should be in jail awaiting his sentence."

Crane stood silent listening the conversation between his master and the emperor's son with few attention. The waterfowl was studying the jaguar and the large imperial force behind him. Not only they were strong, but have a fashion look on their armor suits and weapons. Gold was the most notorious color besides red and green. Normally that would mean that the emperor was a man who achieved for treasures for his own. Green was hope and red was...

Honestly Crane couldn't understand red, so far only represents blood and war, something nobody in this land never aimed for. The emperor was a mysterious man, many people wondered about his true intentions over the years, many wondered why he was so absent to defend the people against so many criminals that were showing up with so much frequency over the last decades.

Wasn't for Master Oogway, China would be living its darkest age. Wasn't for kung fu there would be no hope for the defenseless.

"And after the rebellion insurgence we had at Gongmen City, we had no choice but search for Lord Shen and make his respond for all the recent crimes." Master Shifu's expression hardened.

"Are you saying that the empire is blaming Lord Shen for what happened at Gongmen after we left?"

"Precisely,"

"And what's his crime to cause such?" The jaguar hesitated before answering.

"To be alive," Master Shifu and Crane were about to answer to that, but Dai Lu quickly justified himself. "That's what my father says, I never though about it in that way,"

Shifu sighed briefly. He remained quit for few minutes until Crane and Dai Lu started to look at him with concern.

"I believe nothing in this world would convince your father about changing the sentence,"

"Probably not, and I don't see why, since he's such a criminal," Dai Lu got confused.

"Why you don't talk with him personally?Before taking him away," Crane suggested. That made both Shifu and Li to become alarmed.

"What?!Me?But, he's too dangerous,"

"Don't worry, he's not going to hurt you," Crane said as if was nothing. Despite the evident fear that was display at Lu's eyes the jaguar wasn't going to let the masters of the Palace to think he was a coward. Obviously Li would feel a lot better to see Shen chained than moving freely at his front and the jaguar without his men to aid him.

"If you say so, I'll believe in you, for the sake of you all it's better that nothing happens."

After orienting his men to hold position at the entrance, Dai Lu was escort inside by Shifu and Crane. They would met with the others at the Hall of Warriors. Soon as they entered they saw Mei Ling and Lord Shen walking around while having a private conversation, Mantis and Viper had return to their doorms.

The jaguar stood still, his eyes revealing shock and despair. But wasn't just because of Shen's presence.

"Mei Ling?"

The mountain cat turned her attention from Shen when she heard her name being called. She saw Crane and Shifu. Then the cat opened a big smile when she saw the jaguar standing there.

"Yan!How are you?!It's so good to see you again!"

Judging by Shifu and Crane's expressions they were more surprised with that than Yan himself.

"Yeah, really long time Ling, I admit I'm surprise to see you here," The jaguar said while closing to her.

"Oh, well, yeah. I train here now, besides this is where my boyfriend is living at the moment,"

That erased the smile of the jaguar instantly.

"Boyfriend?"

Mei Ling pointed towards Crane. Wasn't necessary to say that Lu looked at him with disbelief.

"Master Crane, what a surprise indeed," Dai Lu seemed a bit disconsolate.

"I think I never told you about him before, since I was in a hurry at that time," Mei Ling said apologetically. Dai Lu said nothing, he looked up and down at Crane with clear disgust. Crane took notice of that but pretended he didn't saw a thing.

"Anyways...I'm here to talk about Shen's current situation. If Master Shifu don't mind joining me and Shen at the table to talk about the subject," Li stared at Shifu waiting for a response. The red panda nodded.

"Very well then, but since this situation is clearly related to the Jade Palace I can't deny the other masters from joining our meeting. If you don't any objections of course," Shifu said holding his own hands expectantly. The jaguar frowned a bit, he wasn't really interested in having other people interfering with a reunion that should be private. Even so his father told him a lot of things about Jade Palace and it's residents, especially Oogway.

"Of course not, they can come along, all except him," He said pointing at Crane. The waterfowl was clearly surprised.

"What?Why not?" Crane asked while looking at Shifu hoping for an explanation.

"Simple. I don't trust you, especially because you're the main responsible for Shen still be alive," Dai Lu without looking at Crane.

"It's that it?" Crane felt the urge to laugh at such stupid excuse, but before he could do anything the jaguar returned his conversation.

"I'm the son of the emperor. If I don't trust someone it means he can't be trusted by anyone,"

Crane felt a bit of anger burning inside him. This jaguar was clearly abusing of his title and doing whatever he wanted while being protected by the Imperial Law. The waterfowl couldn't do nothing about that.

"I'm sure Crane will understand the situation Dai Lu, we have no time to waste at the moment," Shifu returned Crane's undignified glare with censure. He didn't want to bird to question Dai Lu, not now that they needed so much to convince him to not take Shen out of the Valley.

Crane stared silently while they all walked toward the exit, except for Shen that hold back for few more seconds.

_"You know that whatever you all say, he's not gonna change his mind,"_ The peacock whispered without taking his eyes from the jaguar.

_"How do you know?We not even tried yet,"_ Crane asked despite having a part of him believing in Shen's words. The others had left leaving them both alone.

_"He's blind by his ego and pride, he looks only about how powerful he is or he can be, no matter what costs him to achieve such," _

_"How can you say that?Mei Ling met him before, she said he's really nice person,"_ Crane retorted skeptical about Shen's opinion.

_"Funny isn't?I used to be the same when I was very young," _

Crane's eyed fixed at Shen. The peacock's expression was neutral, he stared back at Crane but said nothing. After few seconds the peacock made his way out of the Hall of Warriors, leaving a terrified Crane inside with his own thoughts.

**Meanwhile... **

"This is not looking good,"

"Really?How I didn't...even...argh!Never mind, any more brilliant plans Po?" Tigress asked annoyed.

Po winced while looking around. They have been tied up together along with Monkey. A huge number of cloaked men around them, none seemed friendly except for a recent familiar face.

"You people have guts, I admit that,"

The captured group of warriors looked up to see a hooded man along with the wolf they've met previously. Apparently the wolf wasted no time to call for back up after they escaped.

"I told you to not make anything foolish, now let's see what happens," The wolf said while frowning. The hooded man talked.

"How did you got easily evaded like that Zinsky?I though you could handle a small group like this,"

The wold seemed upset.

"They're not just ordinary people, they've Kung Fu advanced knowledge. I wasn't expecting any of that."

"Kung Fu warriors?They're rare in places likes this, what brings your group here?" The hooded man turned towards them and approached slowly.

"We're looking for a friend of mine," Po said while having some difficulties to breath due the fact the ropes were firmly tight around them.

"Friend?" Wondered the hooded man, the wolf sighed.

"He said he was looking for Koslov,"

"Koslov?Really?...well, I didn't know Koslov would make friends at such distance."

"What should we do with them?It's not like I feel good by letting they walk around as they want," The wolf questioned with some impatience.

"We have rules, I know. But we're in a time of need and more people to help on our cause would be most than welcome, if they want."

"What cause?" Monkey asked.

"To stop this empire, of course,"

"Who are you?" Tigress asked harshly. The hooded man sighed, he raised his hands and revealed his face. Apparently he would seem like a wolf, but due the fact that his fur color was similar to a fox it made extremely hard to figure out what kind of animal he really was.

"I'm a hybrid, if you're wondering about my species, and also my name is Zach. Zach Diminstrov, at your service."

"Or your can call him Zippeau, if you want," The wolf said with a laugh, Zach looked at him coldly.

"Why?" Po asked with pure curiosity,

"Doesn't matter, you shouldn't mind about what my dear friend Yallin says about anything at all, he's a joker,"

"Can you untie us?" Po asked gently, he wasn't feeling good anymore with the tight ropes. Zippeau seemed to hesitate.

"Perhaps, but you have to promise you won't try anything. Yallin said the same thing before to you and you didn't listen. I'm dispose to give you all another chance, if you want."

Po, Tigress and Monkey eyed each other. Normally the only thing it would come through their minds would be to find a way to beat their captors down and escape, since none of the options were available they didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine, we'll do as you want, for now," Tigress responded regretting every word. Zach nodded.

"Untie them,"

"WHAT?" Yallin was stunned, and so the kung fu warriors.

"You heard me, do it, it's an order," Zach was getting upset quickly. Yallin groaned.

"_'I can't freaking believe this,'_If they do anything don't blame me for that!" The wolf complained before untying the small group.

"How can you trust us that easily?" Monkey asked being amazed by how overconfident the hybrid was.

"Well, you gave me a promise that you would behave properly, or I should think that a promise of a member of the Five means nothing?"

That made Tigress blush a bit, she forgot for a moment that she had to honor her name and the name of the Five. Zach turned towards the panda with an expression of curiosity.

"What exactly a panda does so far deep in this regions?It's unlikely to see one here,"

"What you mean with that?I'm the only panda in China now," Po said with some sadness. Zach and Yallin eyed each other briefly.

"Hum, I think you should make more trips buddy, actually we just saw few pandas a couple of months ago,"

Po stood in shock at what he just heard, was that guy really talking the true?He did saw other pandas?

"What?When?Where?Here?" Po quickly asked nervously. Zach chuckled.

"Calm down a bit. Yes, we saw then exactly six weeks ago far away on the north regions, it's a bit isolate place to be, but it's great to hide and live peacefully without any trouble."

"Tigress, you heard that?!There's another like me out there!" Po yelled being extremely happy. He started to jump around and cheering while singing.

"Errr...okay, is he alright?" Zach asked to Monkey and Tigress while raising and eyebrow.

"He'll be fine, now we have more important things to discuss," The feline tiger said while waiting for Po to return to reality.

"Indeed we have, I would like to take our group to one of our assets near the mountain so we can have a better understanding from each other, what you think?" Zach asked with a gently smile, such nice way to suggest that surprised Tigress a bit. She did not expect to be treated by bandits in such a way, even so the feline tiger wouldn't let herself get fooled by appearances. She still did not trust in Shen at all.

"Fine, we-

Tigress got interrupted by a sudden scream coming from not to far. A wolf came running towards Zach and the others, he revealed to be extremely anxious.

"Captain!We got info about imperial armory at nearby valleys!They got an elite squadron at Valley of Peace, and there's two more on the way!Currently at Valley of Fire and Nayling river. Those two are heading towards Valley of Peace!"

Zach frowned a bit, he stop to think for a second.

"But...there should be only one imperial detach to Valley of Peace today...why so many?" The wolf was confuse.

"I think we know why," Tigress said harshly while looking annoyed at Po, the panda smiled embarrassed. Zach turned towards her waiting for an explanation. "Lord Shen is currently at Jade Palace."

All the men around them started to whisper at whoever was next to them. Zach and Zinsky exchanged a glance.

"Lord Shen?I though the Five had defeat him at Gongmen,"

"Doesn't mean we killed him," Monkey said with some irony.

"Yeah, but...if you didn't, then what did you do with him?" Zach was amaze at what kind of use the Five would made of Lord Shen since he wasn't exactly...well.

"We didn't do anything, Crane found him nearly death after the end of the battle and treated him without us knowing for some time, then he tried to convince us that Lord Shen could change his ways and be a good person. Honestly I think it's just a waste of time," Tigress said without bothering to give much more details.

"This Crane friend of yours...does he wear a straw hat?"

The person who asked that was Yallin.

"How do you know?" Po looked at the wolf amazed.

"Well, a friend of mine, he's a mountain cat. And he told me that his sister use to talk a lot about a Crane with a straw hat. Though he never saw the Crane he learned a lot about him by what she told, especially when she was in that academy of kung fu, and I wondered how many crane's there's out there with straw hats."

"Mei Ling has a brother?" Tigress was stunned. Yallin nodded.

"He never talked much about his family, I think it's because of that Wu Sister subject he never liked about."

"What about it?" This time it was Zach who asked.

"Huh...sir?The convoy?" The messenger asked but was ignored.

"Well, The Wu and Mei Ling are blood related, and her brother is her closest parent."

"WHAT?"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Po seemed disturbed while he raised his hands pleading for a pause."So Mei Ling is a Wu Sister?"

"Hum, kind of. She may be related, but she's not part of their diabolic plans."

"Does Crane even know about that?" Tigress asked Po with worry.

"Hum...I'm think he doesn't...yet."

"Wu Mei Ling, who would know..." Monkey said more to himself than anyone else.

"So there was a fourth sister after all," Zach scratched the back of his head a bit. Yallin nodded." I've heard rumors about it, but I never believed in it. And I though we were the best informed about anything that goes around in this lands."

"Sir, what about the imperial convoys?" The messenger asked again while raising an eyebrow, surprised at how they changed the subject so quickly.

"Ops, oh yeah...err...we'll detach few groups to cover area, get the nearby fields covered, we'll sent heavy infantry through the rivers, that place has a lot."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Tigress had a bad feeling about this.

"We'll attack that convoy soon as it leaves Valley of Peace, if the other convoys reach it before that we won't let them in,"

"You gonna make war at our Valley?!" Monkey got upset, so as Tigress.

"Calm down, I'll make sure I take the fight outside the village, don't you worry. In fact...wanna come along?I had to go there anyways, you all don't have much to do here."

"What about Koslov?" Tigress said looking at Zach and Po.

"He'll be there, trust me."

"Tomorrow is gonna be a hell of a day I believe," Yallin said while leading the group and the warriors outside of the forest.

"You think the others will be fine?" Po felt extremely worried with his friends at Jade Palace.

"I'm sure they'll be fine Po. don't worry."

**Meanwhile... **

Dai Lu Yan smiled evilly while looking at the prisoners that were held at his front on their knees. After giving the signal his men stormed the Palace and brought down the master without much difficult since they were caught in surprise by the sudden attack.

Mei Ling, Lord Shen, Viper, Mantis, and Master Shifu were tight firmly into chains, and a small cage for mantis.

"What's the meaning of this Dai Lu Yan?!" Shifu was outraged.

"Humf, do you really think I came here to talk about politic and nonsenses?I'm here to deal with this trouble myself," The jaguar stared directly at the peacock. Shen returned the cold glare with much more intensity.

"You father will-

"MY dear father..doesn't even know I'm here, my squad wasn't suppose to be here at all, I came to do this my way, and the imperial convoy that was dispatched to come here was sadly delayed by some wrong informations,"

"What you're doing Yan?You're not like this," Mei Ling was astonished. Yan didn't bother to reply.

"Let's get over with this quick, take the peacock outside, his time has come." Yan ordered to his men.

**Meanwhile...**

Crane was outside hiding into the bushes, several Imperials were all over the Palace looking for him. didn't took long for them to notice that one of the masters was missing. The waterfowl sighed heavily. He couldn't think of much to do with that many powered enemies in there.

Suddenly something hit him hard in the back, the crane fell to the ground quickly. He felt huge and strong talons gripping his long neck, he looked up to see a familiar face.

"Good day Master Crane, having some trouble?" Fenghuang asked ironically.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Well, this is my last update before Master Crane returns I'm sure he'll handle the rest way better than me. :P I'm glad to help as I could and the reviewers will get update replies on the** next** chapters, Crane is the one who does that anyway. This chapter it's a bit shorter since I didn't have much time for it so good reading.**

Crane tried to release the strong grip from the owl's talons. He fought hard with wings and legs but it was pointless, the more he tried the faster he was running out of breath. For the first time ever he felt the sensation of imminent death, the desperation was taking over him.

Fenghuang watched pleased as the Crane's eye revealed that panic.

_'Think Crane, think!'_

"Well, well, seems you're running out of time Master Crane. Any last words?" She asked sarcastically. Crane grunted something, but it was impossible for the owl to understand. "What?"

She lighted the grip just a bit, Crane grunted again, the owl lightened the grip a bit more. That was Crane's chance.

"I..said...I'm...getting...BETTER!" Crane delivered a strong kick at her chest that made the owl back away quick, her talons tried to keep on Crane's neck but only managed to scratch it leaving tiny bloody gashes. The waterfowl winced at pain.

The owl recover her balance quick and stared at Crane with curiosity.

"Smart move, but it's pointless," She said coldly.

"Why you want to kill me?Why now?" Crane asked checking his neck with one of the wings, he only managed to dirt his feathers with blood.

"Does it matter?"

"Well, it's not a good time for me at the moment,"

Fenghuang frowned.

"What you're talking about?"

"You see...there's a lot of imperials here at the moment," Crane said pointing towards the Jade Palace.

"That's why I intend to kill you while you're far away from them," She said aggressively.

"The thing is that they're not here to be friendly with us," The waterfowl hopped to that the owl would try to understand the situation."They captured my friends, and I believe they'll kill Shen if I don't do something about it,"

Fenghuang's expression changed from her murderous stare to something more neutral.

"Kill him?Humf, they wouldn't do it without a trial," She said at disbelief. Crane chuckled sadly.

"I'm afraid those people might be a little different from usual imperials and don't quite follow protocols," The tall avian shared a stare of worry with the owl. Fenghuang was thinking carefully about what the crane said, wondering if he was telling the true, or if it was just an excuse to gain time.

"How can I believe in you?How can I know you're not lying?" She said in a challenging manner. Crane approached the owl slowly, what he did next surprised her totally. He grabber her right leg quickly and placed her talons around his neck again.

"If I'm lying then just kill me now. I know there's nothing I can do without your help, and I do not intended to sit here and watch him die or any of the others, especially..." He went silent for a moment, his thoughts about what would be of Mei Ling were terryfying.

Fenghuang keep staring while still in shock. The crane was somewhat brave, but also crazy. She didn't said nothing, only made her talons caress Crane's neck in a way that completely could mean she was tempted to do it so. The waterfowl closed his eyes.

"I went through a lot on those last two decades, I made my life out of that time. I had lots of regrets and things to be proud of, I finally revealed my feelings towards the most important person in my life, and saved a man from a horrible fate. When everyone thought he couldn't change I believed he could. Shen finally found someone he could call friend and be truthful about it." Crane tried to hold his emotions but he was losing the control of them fast. His eyes were tearing even being closed." I'm begging you not to help me, but help them. I know it's worthy of it. All this can't end like that."

A small tear escaped from his eyes, slowly went over his beak and fell over her talons. Fenghuang's beak opened slightly. After a second of astonishment she focused about what she would do.

_'I'm sorry I'm not putting much of a fight Mei, but this is the only chance I might have of saving you and Shen at time," _

"I may help to save the peacock, but I'm not putting much efforts to help the others," She said frowning harder at every word.

"I know that, I can handle the others by myself. Just help me...please," Crane pleaded. Fenghuang released her talons from Crane's neck. He bird let out a sigh of relieve. "Thank you,"

"Don't thank me, I'm not doing this for you," She said seeming rather upset.

"Alright, but even so I appreciate it a lot. You know...you could do things in a different way if you wanted,"

"Don't you dare to come with that kind of talk at me, you know that I won't forgive Shifu ever!" The owl was getting temper quick.

"Whatever happened at that time I do not know, but also I don't see why would you hate me for something I'm not even aware of,"

Crane choose his words carefully, just that fact the owl found some dispose to help him showed that she wasn't completely heartless. Maybe Fenghuang still could have some good inside her, if he only could understand what cause her so much pain. Crane was able to help Shen to change, no reason of why he could help her too, maybe that's why Shen got upset with Crane when he doubt about Fenghuang changing her ways. The peacock knew Crane had a talent for it.

"It's not your business," She said coldly. Crane kept his silent gaze at her, the owl was getting nervous with that. "You wouldn't understand anyway,"

"Why not?"Crane asked while raising an eyebrow.

"They did not deny her from you," She said suddenly lowering her voice. Crane didn't quite got it at the beginning, took him few seconds to understand."

"Deny her from?...They?..." Then the bird's eyes widened at realization."So you also..."

"Yes, many years ago I was one of Oogway's most dedicated students, he made the original five. Then him, along with that red panda, made the original Furious Five. It surprised me most when they choose me as the leader of if. I felt honored and proud, but I always felt that something else was missing. I never really felt..." She tried to find the right word for it.

"Happy," Crane did not suggest, but confirm it. The owl turned her head towards him.

"So you know," Her voice sounded depressive."At least Shifu, somehow, changed his mind about you and that cat in time. I didn't have that luck."

"You do realize you might have another chance?" Crane asked hoping she could understand the indirect. The owl shivered.

"Enough of that talk, if you wanna save Shen, you...and me...should move on,"

Crane scratched his neck again, the pain from the gashes was bothering him. Fenghuang observed that with mixed feelings. In a way she regret hurting him, the other way she felt this would make the Crane more aware of his behavior towards her.

"We better think on a plan, we don't have much time left,"

"What plan?Let's get in and finish them off," The owl was rather impatient. Crane sighed.

"They're not just a bunch of regular guards or something like that. They're heavy armored, heavy trained and have slight knowledge on kung fu. It's not by strength that we'll get over them."

"Maybe not by strength, but by speed and skill," Suddenly a voice said. Both avians turned around quick to stare at two hooded figures nearby the smallest trees.

"Who are you?" Fenghuang asked immediately. One of them came out to reveal himself. It was a wolf. His fur was dark grey, his face had some spot with fur missing and they were replace by long thin scars. His eyes were dark brown and he was just a bit smaller than Crane.

"We're the renegades, we came to your aid if necessary," He said firmly while staring cautiously at the owl. With a move of his hand he called for his comrade to come out too." This is my young brother, Paol Koslov."

The other wolf also had dark gray fur, but he seemed way better at health and green his eyes were of an experienced fighter. He was taller like Crane and much more lighter. Both wolfs were carrying 2 bags with arrows and 2 bows, one small, one big. Also they were carrying and extra bag with supplies. Their dressing was somewhat unique in that regions, since they never saw anybody using boots and pants like that.

"Renegades?So you're the ones that Po was going after?" Crane asked forgetting about everything else at the moment. Paol seemed confused.

"Po?You mean...Po Ping?The panda?" The young wolf was getting excited all sudden.

"You know him?" Everyone asked to Koslov with extreme surprise. Paol seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Yeah, it was like... a long time ago, when we were kids. He was my best childhood friend. I miss him a lot..." Koslov let himself get distracted into his own thoughts.

"Alright, alright, alright!Enough bringing back old memories, we have a situation here man, get yourself up!" His old brother said seeming rather annoyed.

"Sorry, Ruskin. Hum...I guess we can help you two, what's going on?We just got here now, we're on another duty task then we just saw you two arguing about something."

Both Fenghuang and Crane shared a quick stare at each other.

"We're not really best friends but..." Crane started timidly. Fenghuang completed for him.

"We have similar interests in this places. Now it doesn't matter to me who you are, you want to help him?" She pointed towards Crane."Fine, I have my own business here, don't get it my way."

Both wolfs seemed a bit surprised by her way to talk and looked at Crane waiting for an explanation.

"Err...I'll explain later. Now the thing is that this imperial convoy just arrived here," The waterfowl pointed towards the palace. Koslov nodded.

"One of the reasons we're here too, this convoy wasn't suppose to be here at all. There's something wrong with it. We came to investigate."

"They have Dai Lu Yan in charge of it,"

"The son of the emperor?!" The older wolf seemed shocked."What's he thinking?No imperial of the importance he is has permission to got out without a whole division covering his path."

"He came to kill Shen, and I think he might kill the others too," Crane said rushing his words.

"Shen?What Shen?" Koslov asked frowning a bit.

"Lord Shen you dummy head," Fenghuang was getting upset again.

"The peacock?!" Both wolfs were amaze and terrified.

"But,..how he got here?We got info that he got killed at Gongmen City," Ruskin was extremely alarmed.

"Heh, actually, that's the last time we heard about anything at Gongmen, brother. Something might have happened after and we were unaware of it,"

Crane looked carefully at the younger wolf. He seemed kind and gentle, but also intelligent and had a logic way to see things. It was hard to study them more with an annoyed owl next to him.

"ENOUGH!Are we going to get in there or end this for once or you three are gonna sit and fool around?!"

They stared silently at her, then Crane couldn't help but let a smile come out.

"What's so funny?" She asked rather upset. The waterfowl chuckled.

"Nothing, you just reminded me a lot of someone I knew few weeks ago,"

"I got a plan, if we don't have time then follow my lead," Ruskin said moving straight towards the palace, now placing his smallest bow at his left hand and two arrows at the other one.

"Nice, I like having fun before night," Paol said with a smirk while also catching his bow and following his brother's lead.

Crane and Fenghuang hesitated for a moment.

"I'm not sure what they're up to, but the more we have on our side the better it will be," The waterfowl said as if he was trying to convince himself that this wasn't a suicidal move. Fenghuang rolled her eyes.

"This is starting to get really weird," She said before following the wolfs.

**Meanwhile... **

Po, Tigress and Monkey followed the renegade group through the huge forest till they reached a large river that would break across it until the distant regions. Yallin and Zach were talking privately while having the kung fu masters at their backs.

"Can we really trust them?This doesn't seem very simple," Monkey was letting out his opinion. Tigress changed her view from the renegades to Po. The panda stared to the side discretely and realized her gaze at him.

"What?" He asked turning his head to face her. Tigress snorted.

"You just doesn't change at all, do you?You always believe that people can be good despite what they did in the past. It's the Dragon warrior a powerful and feared person, or a kind and humble one?"

Po felt unsure of how to respond properly to that question, instead he replied with another question.

"Which one you prefer?"

That question definitely caught Tigress off guard. Her eyes widened slightly while thinking on it. She shifted her gaze from Po back to the renegades.

"I do not know, but I don't mind the second option," She said somewhat bluntly. Po let out a tiny smile show up while looking at her.

"Heh, so you have soft side hidden somewhere,"

Tigress stared back with annoyed face.

"Don't get me with that now, and I think they want to talk with us now,"

The feline stared back to front, Po and Monkey did the same. Both wolfs had stopped and were coming back towards them.

"I'm afraid we have to hurry," Zach said rapidly. His voice filled with tension."I got a report from Valley of Peace, the Palace was assaulted by imperial troops. We got to hurry now,"

All the masters were shocked with the news.

"Wait!What?Why they did that?" Po was getting nervous and confused. Yallin sighed.

"I bet it has nothing to do about your peacock, they went there to finish him off most likely," Po's face went blank.

"We can't let them, how long to get back to the Valley?" The panda was serious all sudden, his soft side completely dissipated.

"A couple of hours on foot, few minutes on boats if we get lucky. I got few men to aid us. I wish we had more time to gather, but since you wanna go now..." Zach said looking at the panda respectfully. Po nodded firmly."It's decided then, we'll be leaving now. I got at least eighty men to give us some back up, making our way to the Palace won't be easy."

"We can handle it," Tigress said coming along Po's side with Monkey. Zach took a deep breath. The wolf looked at them with some sadness.

"The battle is about to start, you may not know how much this might mean for everyone here, but...we'll do our best. It's either victory or death. Be careful, people die in this kind of things, no matter who, no matter how. I wish you all good luck when we get there, we'll need it."

**A/N: My last update, Master Crane is coming back next week to take over it, have a nice week everyone!**


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: WOHHO!I'm back!I'm soooo happy to see you all!Especially the new reviewers!Ok, time for replies!**

**Crown Prince of Horror; **

_Ok, first of all I would like to welcome you to the story, but apparently you've been here for a long so welcome to the review page :P When I saw your reviews I was totally amazed. I wouldn't' expect such, especially after this story pass through so much hard times, which is totally my fault. Even so I would like to thank you a lot for the kind words and I'm happy to be able to keep up to the story again. I hate to keep people waiting. So I'm really sorry about it._

**Shen's General;  
><strong>

_My good old friend General!It's sooo good to be back with another update. I forgot how good was to do this after a long time out of it. I'm pretty sure we'll work together on this again soon._

**Charlie b. Barkin; **

_Yeah, man no problem, you can work in the re-edition if you want. I have to keep for next chapters anyway. Thanks for everything._

**Anonymousrules; **

_Thanks for the reviews and I'm glad you liked, of course the credit for the last chapter goes to Charlie, he did it very well, it surprised me. _

**Shooting Star; **

_Sorry if Charlie scared you lol, he likes to do that sometimes_.

**BluTiger101;  
><strong>

_Thanks!I would like to welcome you to the review page too. Normally I do reply for review, but Charlie only had time to make the chapters so...well, here I am! :p_

**TheHonorableTest; **

_Ok, first of...I think your first review was bigger than last chapter and that was totally awesome!I don't even really know what to say about it, but THANK YOU! :)_

**XdiAZ; **

_Glad to see you around again X, I was missing you! XD_

**Unrealistic23; **

_Thanks, Charlie did well to keep with the personality._

**Synchronized Harmony; **

_Glad to see you again too!I missed you a lot :3 :P_

**Alpha tiger; **

_Thanks man!I'm happy to see you again!I'll do the best I can think of for next chapters._

**Unilever; **

_Long time I don't see you around, glad to see you back too. I hope you like this new chapter too._

Paol and Ruskin caught over an imperial squad that was patrolling the palace grounds. Both wolves unleashed a furious rain of arrows above them. Their accuracy was amazing, each hit was on neck or head. Twelve went down in seconds.

"We got more incoming, get the long bow, we need more firing precision," Ruskin said to his young brother while changing bow. He just spotted a dozen more coming from the inside buildings at distance. Paol nodded and took a higher ground for better aim. Another squad was nearby them.

Crane and Fenghuang came right after knocking out through the other squad. Both of them had some difficult since they were not used to fight along and mostly would get in each others way.

"Get out of my way bird!" The owl screamed while kicking some rhinos out of their feet. Crane moaned after receiving a strong kick at his belly delivered by the owl.

"I'm trying...to help you!" He said breathing hard while dodging the imperial swords and axes.

"I don't need your help, I can do it myself!" She said after striking down more rhinos with ferocity.

"What makes you think you can do it by yourself?" The waterfowl replied after beating down another rhino with swift kicks. FengHuang managed to break their armor as if it was made of wood.

"I'm better than you, that's why I know!" She said while sending airborne two leopards.

"Doesn't mean you're invincible!" Crane replied back while flying over more soldiers and maneuvering dangerously close to hit his targets at vulnerable spots.

"Will you two shut up already?!"Ruskin screamed from distance while shooting arrows at several dozens of soldiers that were converting from everywhere. Despite their amazing skills with arrows the wolves were having a hard time to hold their ground since the enemy was outnumbering them bad. It was impressive that despite being night the darkness wasn't affecting their accuracy.

FengHuang finished the last soldiers with killing blows and went to attack the imperials that were holding back due the several arrows coming at them. Crane was about to follow her lead, but then a sight from distance distracted him completely. He saw the figure of Shen being brutally carried at the courtyard by rhinos with Dai Lu Yan not to far behind. One of the rhinos was carrying a huge axe. Apparently they were unaware of the mess that was happening nearby.

The waterfowl realized immediately what was happening, but fighting with those soldiers would give them time to reach at the courtyard before it was too late. The avian stared at the wolves, their incredible precision with arrows would be useful. Crane flew to them while dodging few arrows coming from few imperial archers.

"I need a favor from you two," Crane said while blocking a couple of arrows with ease. The wolves didn't stare at him but made a sign they were listening," We won't get there in time, they've taken Shen outside already and probably they'll kill him without delay. I need you two to go there and stop it. Me and the owl will take care of those soldiers."

"Are you sure?" Ruskin asked after killing two imperials that tried to sneak over Fenghuang. The owl was devastating their lines with the fury of a tornado.

"Please hurry, we don't have much time," Crane was apprehensive, the avian wanted to go there by himself, but he would get delayed by the guards and being alone would make him easier to beat.

"We'll do it, where's the courtyard?" Paol asked while jumping down from his spot along with Ruskin. Crane pointed the direction. "Alright, I guess we better hit with extreme accuracy this time, we'll have the element of surprise hopefully. Let's spread a bit to have more angles brother."

Ruskin couldn't help but smile at him.

"That's my young brother growing up and learning quick," He said full of proud. Both wolves rushed away. In the mean time Crane went to aid Fenghuang.

The owl made serious damage to the imperials there, there weren't much left to counter-attack her assault. Mostly we're injured, unconscious or dead. The waterfowl came to her side kicking the injured leopard that tried to jump over her. The owl said no thanks to that, her focus being in the remaining soldiers.

"The wolves went to save Shen," Crane said while looking forward.

"Do you even know those wolves?" She asked harshly. Despite her pride the owl had some difficult to hide her exhaustion from the intense fighting.

"No, but they don't seem to like imperials much, that's good for me at the moment," Crane stared briefly at the owl. Her back had some scratches and few wing feathers were missing. Her legs had pieces of wood and blood. "Let me help you with this,"

"I don't ne- But Crane had enough.

"I DONT CARE, Miss Fenghuang what you need or not. I'm here to do the right thing despite of what you might think about it. That's why I'm part of the Five, I help those in need. And you need help, and I'll help you no matter what."

The owl frowned a bit, but then her expression suddenly saddened.

"I know you're right, being the leader of the first group of Five made necessary for us to remind ourselves about that many times...if you want to help me very well then, but don't expect hugs after all this is over."

The owl charged with ferocity at the remaining soldiers. When they saw the owl coming quick few of them immediately dropped their weapons and started to run away. Crane went after her quick for support, even with the chaotic situation they were into the waterfowl was extremely interested to know what kind of damage they both could do while fighting along.

**Meanwhile... **

Shen fell to the ground with a loud thud after being released by the rhinos. He had a hard time trying to raise from the floor while looking straight at Dai Lu Yan. The jaguar was appreciating the view he has from the courtyard to the rest of the valley. The moon was brightening intensely now that night had arrived.

"Beautiful place to die, isn't it?Not that you would deserve such," He said while contemplating the mountains at distance. "Much more calm and peaceful than nearby the imperial palace."

Shen remained silent. His view changing from the jaguar to the rhino next to him carrying the weapon that probably would end the peacock's life.

"Now before you die I'll make you feel 'better'," The jaguar said with sarcasm. "Since this is not the official detachment to capture you, I'm afraid I cannot let witnesses to tell the imperials that will be here in few days about what happened."

Shen's expression remained the same but deep inside he felt something sting. He knew exactly what the jaguar would do, just the fact he would do such amazed and terrified the peacock.

"So I'm afraid you won't have time to say goodbye, but look at the good side of things. It wasn't you who killed them, which is extremely surprising just to think of," The more the jaguar mocked the more hate he was managing to develop on the peacock. But Shen wasn't going to give Dai Lu Yan the pleasure to hear his voice and feel the hate in it. "So no more wasting time then."

With a sign of the jaguar the nearby Rhino kicked Shen hard on the head. He fell to the ground nearly unconscious due the ferocity of the kick. The Rhino raised his axe on the air much as possible aiming straight for the peacock's neck.

"Wait, not the axe stupid, use the hammer, smash it," The jaguar said annoyed. The rhino dropped down the axe and few seconds later he replace it by a huge hammer. With a evil smile he raised the hammer quickly aiming for the head this time. "Good bye peacock, you won't be missed ever."

_Thud! _

**Meanwhile... **

Po was sitting on a small bench of the boat, he looked around. The were dozens of boats filled with men and women heavily armed. It surprised the panda deeply to see how vast was the different kind of people who made part of this outlaw group. Wolves, foxes, jaguars, leopards, crocodiles, sheeps, tigers, hawks, eagles, cranes, bulls, and more and more.

Clearly the majority was of Wolves. Zach was busy passing instruction by the other squad leaders. Yallin was deploying messengers to the nearby regions to send any people available to join them. Tigress and Monkey we're sitting near Po with worried expression. It was night already but the bright light of the moon made unnecessary to light up torches.

"What's the matter Po?" Monkey noticed how concerned Po was.

"It's not really a big deal Monkey, but...the're so much stuff going on now. It's far much different from before having to fight against Tai Lung or go after Shen. I mean...it's like this is a 'this is it' moment, you know what I mean?"

"Hum, I think so," The simian said while thinking hard. Tigress watched the panda carefully. It has been a long time since she sawn Po down like that. The panda finally realized how serious the situation was, she wondered how the panda would behave in the next hours. A loud grow broke her thoughts.

"Urr, I haven't eat anything for hours!Hey, Zach!Got any food?!" Po screamed at the wolf far away. Tigress let out a sigh.

Zach stopped instructing to stare surprise at the panda.

"What he said?" Zach asked. Yallin chuckled.

"He asked if you don't have any food here," Zach raised an eyebrow.

"Go help him with that, I'm busy here," Yallin groaned while moving towards the panda.

Yallin reached at the kung fu warriors while looking carefully at his sides. The boat wasn't very reliable.

"Po, if you want food you have to get it," The wolf said rather annoyed.

"Yeah, where then?" He asked being a bit more enthusiastic than he should. Yallin pointed at the river. "What?"

"Fishes. You never went fishing before?"

"Hum...not really..." Po said while scratching his arm nervously. Yallin didn't seem much surprise. He left for a moment then came back with a thin bamboo with a thin cable made of silk.

"Time to learn then," Monkey and Tigress stared at bewilderment.

"Are you two nuts or what?Do you have any idea of what's going on at the moment?We're about to get into a war and you two are there talking about fishing?!" Tigress was extremely upset. Yallin wasn't affected by it.

"Well, it's a couple of hours til we get to Valley of Peace, unless you have anything better to do til we get there please tell me,"

That made Tigress shut it, but she was tempted to give him a nasty response.

"Alright Po, now chill out, this requires a lot of patience. I'm sure you have it much more than certain people," Yallin said making Tigress growl at him.

**Meanwhile... **

Shen opened his eyes, it was dark but he knew somehow he was still alive. Then loud noises around him made him much more aware of the situation.

"Just find them idiots!We need to secure the area!" That voice was from Dai Lu Yan. Shen felt please to feel the panic in it. The peacock looked around to see the hammer that was supposed to kill him laying on the floor few meters away.

The peacock spotted the rhino that was with the hammer laying death next him. An arrow visibly stuck into his neck. More imperials around seemed to have died the same manner. He wondered who would have killed the imperials, but whoever it was just saved his life by a few.

Shen tried to release himself from the grip of the chains, but it was impossible to do it without help. More arrows went flying over him killing the guards near Dai Lu Yan with soft thuds. The jaguar changed his mind when one of the arrows hit his spar leaving a deep scratch.

"Retreat!We'll deal with this in a more proper manner," He said with a sinister smile. The jaguar and the few imperials left ran off leaving Shen laying down on the floor. The peacock was thinking on a way to get free when he heard soft footsteps coming his way.

"I think it's him," A voice said. Shen wasn't familiarized with it, then another one spoke.

"Probably, let's get him out of here quick. They might come back with numbers."

The peacock felt someone messing with the chains, after few seconds it was clear that even having extra help wouldn't make the chains release him that easily.

"Gez, this is hard," After few seconds he managed to take off the chains. Shen slowly stood still and stared at the people who saved him. It surprised him to see they were wolves.

"Who are you?" Shen asked while looking carefully at them. The way they both were dress was unusual.

"We're renegades, we came to aid you and your friends. Your bird friend back there said we should come here help you quick, so we did," The taller wolf said."Paol, we should retrieve some arrows, we'll need to use them again, no way to waste if we can recover,"

The younger wolf nodded and went through the dead imperials to recover the arrows.

"Renegades?What the hell is that?" The peacock was confuse. The taller wolf let out a chuckle.

"We'll explain latter, now we better help the other inside the palace. Crane and the owl are fighting against the rest of the imperials."

"Wait!What?!Crane and Feng?!Are you serious?!" The peacock wondered if he actually died and went into a different life similar in most aspects with the previous one.

"Huh, yeah...why?" The wolf didn't understand the overreaction.

"Nevermind, I'll talk about it later," The peacock said moving back to the palace."I know where the others are, follow me,"

The wolf called his young brother to come after them. While both wolves and Shen returned to the Palace while Crane and FengHuang have cleared their path to the same location. Both groups arrived at same time at the palace. When they got inside it surprise them to see the prisoners had recently got themselves free and defeated all the imperials inside.

The first one to react to their entrance was Mei Ling, she went to Crane quickly to see if he was alright. Mantis, Viper and Shifu were apparently fine too. Master Shifu carefully watched his surroundings. There was Crane, but then also Fenghuang, Shen and a pair of strange wolves.

"We better start clarifying what's going on here," The red panda said while looking at them with curiosity. Nobody said anything for a moment. Then the taller wolf came to talk.

"I wish we could, but we need get out of the Valley soon as possible, there's too many imperials down there," He said slowly.

Shen went next to the owl to talk privately with her while Shifu and the wolf we're arguing among themselves.

"I know you don't like them, but I would never imagine you would actually work along with any of the Five," The peacock said with a smug smile. FengHuang snorted.

"I had my reasons, besides...he's kinda different from the rest," She said lowering her voice to a whisper. Shen raised an eyebrow.

"So now you believe me?"

"_*sigh*_ Alright. Yes, you were right about him, but then do you really think the rest would think the same about me?"

"It's up to you to convince them, your actions will make a point, not only words."

"Humf, the crane sure made it that way while I pretended to kill him," She said while looking at the waterfowl. Crane was too busy paying attention to Mei Ling to care about anything else at the moment. Shen made a weird noise after she said that."Don't tell me if I had kill the crane you would be upset."

"His name is Huang. And yes, I would be..._very_...upset,"

All the discussions ended when they all heard a loud noise coming from outside. All the warriors rushed out to check what was happening. At the courtyard they got a view from the village below them. Few houses were on fire.

"Those bastards!" Screamed Koslov. "We need to go down there and stop them."

**Meanwhile... **

Dai Lu Yan was slowly inspecting one of their new weaponry. This was the perfect occasion use it. So many days of hard work would finally compensate. All the citizens were taken away from the village, he would deal with them after the problem with the kung fu warriors was resolve. A soldier came in to report.

"All the three weaponry are at the designated positions, sir!Ready to fire." Dai Lu Yan nodded.

"Very good, let's see how much damage those thing really can do like they said...fire at will."

**Meanwhile... **

"Calm down all of you!We need to asset this situation in a careful manner!" Ruskin was trying to stop the masters of the Five to rush down to the village.

"Get out of the way man, it's OUR home they're burning!We're not sitting here and watching that happening!" Mantis was infuriate. Viper and Crane were in agreement with the bug.

"I know, but there's a lot of them down there, and I don't wanna see anybody here dying stupidly. Now let's..-

_BOOOMMMM_

The wolf stop talking immediately. He turned around quickly to see a red fireball coming straight up at their direction.

"What the hell is that?" Koslov asked while looking admired at the cannonball coming quickly.

"GET COVER!GET OUT HERE NOW!"

**A/N: _ Uh oh...**.**see you all next weekend!**


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: Wow, hello everybody!It's good to be back with another chapter, now time to bring some missing elements that were missing in the last chapters. And new ones of course!Time for replies!**

**Shen's General **;

_Lol good to see you again General, I'm sure you could't wait a bit more or could you? :p_

**Anoymousrules; **

_Lol, thanks! _

**ShifuFanatic; **

_Wow, thanks a lot buddy, I'm happy for it._

**Crown Prince of Horror; **

_Well there was that...guy long ago...I think. Eh, I forgot. ;p So you like those, huh?He came unexpectedly for me, wasn't working on a specific personality, he just came the way I wanted him to act with his own purposes. Thanks a lot for the support._

**DSAP; **

_Dude!Where were you?!It's great to see you back! :)_

**Alpha tiger;**

_Thanks a lot for the kind words, I'm thankful for your support and I hope I can live to expectations._

**XdiaZ;**

_Lol, I wonder too... :P_

**Charlie ;**

_Ok then Charlie, I'm happy you liked. Thanks again._

**BluTiger101**;

_I'm glad to be of help anytime. ;p_

**Synchronized Harmony**;

_So happy to see you again *hugs* was missing you a lot!And yeah, someone found something they never should. _

_"GET COVER!GET OUT HERE NOW!" _

A not so distant scream that echoed at everyone's ears nearby. Most warriors had gotten themselves admiring the red brightly light that would soon end their lifes. With much effort most of them managed to turn around and ran before getting hit. Most of them...

The cannonball splashed into an explosion nearby the entrance of the Courtyard sending debris flying everywhere along with an intense heat. The air shock wave send some of them out of their feet for brief seconds. Shifu, Viper, Mantis and Mei Ling went safely out of range. Ruskin and Paol were knocked out and landed few meters away stunned. Fenghuang flew out of range just in time. But Shen and Crane were caught by it.

The peacock tried to move out but he was sent flying harshly through few wood tables. Luckily he didn't got any major injuries, just few scratches. Crane wasn't so lucky.

The waterfowl was the closest, the heat from the explosion burned a good number of his feathers. Pieces of debris penetrated through his wings as he tried to block them making deep wounds at his chest. The bird flew into several spins, his hat disappearing in the mean time. The bird hit the ground head on first knocking him out of conscious.

"What the hell?!" Screamed Ruskin looking around to see the devastation on the courtyard."Can someone explain me what the hell was that thing?!"

Nobody gave him a straight answer, but most warriors gazed at the peacock that had gotten himself up with difficult.

"We know what it is, but we don't have time to explain, we need to get out of the range of that weapon!" Shifu yelled back at him while checking on his students."We need to move back to the Palace, we'll be safe in there."

Tigress wondered what would make Shifu think that way, then another huge _boommm_ warned them about another fireball incoming, but this time it landed way down below at the staircase.

_'So those things can't reach too far,'_ Tigress though to herself while seeing more canons firing but unable to get a better distance than the first shot.

"Let's go back then, everybody, ok?" Paol asked while moving around to check if anyone was wound.

"We're good," Mei Ling said while helping Shen, Fenghuang came for his aid aswell.

"Where's Crane?" Mantis asked noticing the waterfowl was missing. At this the mountain cat stopped. She was petrified, she forgot to look for him and went straight for Shen instead.

"I'll look for him," She said letting the owl take care of the peacock for now.

"You don't have to, I found him," Ruskin said looking at a specific area. The mountain cat followed his gaze, she felt her hearth stop when she saw the avian at the floor motionless.

"HUANG!"

The mountain cat rushed to his side fastest possible. Ruskin, Tigress and Shifu came along.

"Gez, he doesn't look good," Ruskin commented with a frown while tending to Crane's wounds. The bird was bleeding at several spots, small pieces of debris stuck at his chest, several wing feathers were cut or burned. His neck had a small twist, the major bleeding coming from his head.

"We have to move him inside now, there's no time," Tigress said while grabbing Crane's legs. Ruskin caught the avian by the wings and carried him along with the female tiger to the dorms. Mei Ling wanted to go along but Shifu stopped her.

"I need you now Mei Ling, Crane can wait," The red panda said severely. The mountain cat wondered if that was a bad joke.

"Wait?!He's dying and you think he can wait?!I'm suppose to take care of him more than the others!" She tried to hold her fury the best she could.

"We're not safe yet, I need you, Mantis, Viper and the younger wolf to go down to the Valley. Those citizens need our help quick!" Master Shifu knew it wasn't fair to ask her to do such at the moment, but duty had to come first."Don't let your feelings get in the way, it won't bring you any good,"

"Feelings?!You think this is just about feelings?!" The mountain cat was getting so upset now that it costed much for her no to rage at the red panda."For several years I waited to see him again, at the Academy Crane was the only thing I could call as family. He was my best friend, then my boyfriend and now the only family I got left. If you want me to abandon him to death to save other families?Fine!But if he dies I would never forgive myself for doing such!I'm not a Furious Five member, I'm not attached to your rules and stuff. Unlike the others I DO have a choice. And right now no matter what I choose, it will be the right one."

Mantis, Viper and Paol stared silently while looking at the two. Mantis and Paol could understand the mountain cat agony, even Viper was on Ling's side.

"Master Shifu, maybe you should let her stay and call Tigress. It would be more suitable," Viper suggested carefully hoping not to be yelled at. But Shifu didn't seem to listen, he was looking down at the ground at wonder. He once let this family thing affect him and didn't brought any good. Was he so sure that it could happen with anyone around him that decide to go to the same path?Would him let his past fears and duties blind him for what really matter for other people?

"Perhaps,..." Shifu said after a minute of silence."..please, tell her to come here if you can Mei Ling."

The mountain cat felt a bit relieved and somewhat ashamed.

"Yes Master Shifu, I'm sorry," She said.

"There's no need to be sorry, it's your choice. I can't judge you for that," He said before the cat turned to leave. The red panda turned to talk with the rest present."We'll go down at the village, but it will take time, his canons are firing at the mountain which means we'll be completely expose at the staircase. They have numbers and power. We need to use any obstacles to our advantage, no matter if for hiding or covering."

"There's a lot indeed, we should cover different corners by our own or should we go on teams?" Mantis asked being extremely concerned by how badly outnumbered they were.

"No more than two per team," Shifu said without delay. Mantis nodded.

"We might have some of our own arriving here soon, sir," Paol said while checking how many arrows he got left."Our numbers won't increase that much but our soldiers are much more skilled than any of those imperials."

The red panda eyed him curiously.

"Who are you?If you mind me asking,"

"I'm a renegade member, Paol Koslov at your service if needed," He replied waving his paw.

"The renegade group?" Shifu was surprise.

"You know them Master?" Viper asked curious.

"Yes, they have formed a long time ago since the new emperor ascended to the throne, during the last decades there were several rumors about a criminal organization causing havoc at several valleys and important cities. The most serious one being the assault at the imperial palace eight years ago. That attempted killed most royal soldiers from a different land that came to make a tread and few loyal imperial allies. But nobody never knew what was their true intentions when the renegades were create. Master Oogway never said much about it, which makes me doubt even more about this group."

"One day we might tell you," Paol said with a smile."In the mean time it's good enough for you that we're here to aid with this big trouble you got in your hands."

Before Shifu could said anything Fenghuang landed next to them. The red panda eyed her with the same severity he did with Mei Ling.

"Fenghuang, what brings you here?" His voice was harsh. Paol came to defend her quick.

"She helped us a lot to save Shen. She was with Crane fighting with the imperials while I came to courtyard to stop the execution. She's on our side, sir. At least for now."

Shifu could pretend he didn't listen, but even so he frowned at it.

"What reasons could make you even bother to help us?You let clear long time ago you didn't want nothing more in here,"

The owl kept her expression neutral. She was ready for whatever Shifu would say to make her upset.

"I do have an understanding of the situation here, despite of what you might think I do want to help save the Valley, even if...I don't live here anymore, this place still feel like home, and I can't let them destroy it. I never intended to do such. I know you don't like me Shifu, but...I have plenty of reasons to do it,"

The red panda eyed her carefully, it was hard to say if she was being honest, but this time he felt she was.

"It's not the time to push confidence so high, but I'm aware of you medical knowledge, I need for you to help Crane. In the mean time I'll bring the other wolf along down to the Valley."

Fenghuang realized Shifu was giving her a choice, something he usually wouldn't do at all, perhaps he had change on the last years.

"Very well, I'll inform him to come here and met you," She said before flapping her huge wings and return to the dorms.

**Meanwhile... **

It was over midnight, the boats filled with renegade troops were slowly crossing the rivers towards Valley of Peace. At the current pace they would be there in few minutes. Yallin tried to teach Po how to fish, but after the panda managed to pull out Monkey's pants instead of a fish he gave up. It was hard to say who was more annoyed, Tigress or Yallin. The wolf gave Po a crate filled with fruits so the panda would stop complaining about being hungry.

"Ta-hks aff lof-t!" Po said with the mouth filled. Yallin was having a nervous eye twitch.

"You're welcome," He said slowly while walking away. After few minutes Zach came in to talk to them after hours of debate along the other squad leaders.

"We just got some info that the citizens have been moved away from the village, which is good. We won't have to worry about hitting innocent people. Also I heard that the Jade Palace was secure by the kung fu masters, and we have two men up there that aided them,"

Po gave a big scream of relieve spitting pieces of fruit all over the place.

"HA!I knew they could do it!Those imperials are no match for their kungfuness!"

"Yeah, the thing is that there's something else going on in there that our spies couldn't explain well,"

Po stopped his victory dance looking at the fox confused.

"What?" Zach shrugged.

"They said there's some kind of metal that fires pretty lights at long distances and does a lot of damage when it hits something, and sets everything on fire. I have no idea what they're talking about."

Tigress, Monkey and Po eyed each other at the same moment.

"It can't be," Po said in a whisper.

"How they managed to do that?!I though all those canons were destroyed!" Tigress said finally raising up from her spot after a long time.

"Maybe someone forgot to check it again," Monkey said with a chuckle.

"It's not time for jokes Monkey!This is serious!" Tigress snapped at the simian.

"Alright, alright. No need to get so nervous, gez,"

"What are you all talking about?" Zach asked while looking at their reactions.

"We know what those things are," Tigress said turning to face the fox."If I was you I would advise your men to take them down quick, in one hit those things can kill dozens. Don't let them aim at your or you're gone."

Zach merely frowned at her warn. He stood still thinking with himself for a bit.

"I need to know how many of those there's in there. If they're so dangerous as you say then we might have to do some changes, we'll be arriving at the Valley in few minutes."

"We'll take care of those. If you can, clear the path for us so we can do it faster," She said firmly.

"Alright, I'll sent one of my squads along with you. Good luck for us all," He said before turning to leave.

"Do you think Shen gave them the location of any remaining cannons?" Monkey suggested. Po frowned.

"Shen don't have nothing to do with those canons being there. Okay maybe the canons were invented by him but the fact of them being there doesn't mean he's the main guilty."

Monkey raised an eyebrow.

"Po, that doesn't matter anymore, we have to save the Valley," Tigress said. Po was undignified.

"Wha?..but it was Monkey who started!" He said pointed to the simian.

"Yeah, but you continued," Monkey replied back.

'_*sigh* I hope we get there soon.'_ Tigress gazed at distance. Despite being dark she could recognize few hills nearby the valley.

**Meanwhile... **

Crane was laying at his room with Fenghuang, Mei Ling and Shen. The peacock wounds were already taken care of. The owl was having a hard time to remove the pieces of debris since her talons were too big for the task and her wings wouldn't be any better, she had to ask for Mei Ling to do such. The mountain cat remained quit the whole time while being instructed on how to proceed by the owl. Shen watched carefully. Crane at current state wasn't looking much different from the time the waterfowl found Shen after his fall at Gongmen City.

"He suffered a concussion," Fenghuang sighed."This will take some time. I can't do nothing about the feathers except for cutting the damage ones and wait them to grow up again. Hum...this twist in his neck will need bandages, you have to grip them tight."

Mei Ling did as she owl instructed. The mountain cat was shaking a bit but managed to keep herself up to the task, it made her nauseous to have her hands covered in blood while checking every wound.

"Very well, clean him up. Hum,...do you know if there's any herbs of medicinal items around here?" The mountain cat frowned.

"I believe not. I think it's Mantis who deals with such, but yesterday he told me he ran out of it. He would be getting more at the village."

The owl's expression darkened.

"Only on the village?I'm afraid it can't wait, I need those items quick. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise?" The mountain cat asked fearing the answer.

"He will die in few hours."

The atmosphere in the room seemed to turn icy. Shen made a weird noise wit his throat.

"Uh...but...can't you..." Mei Ling seemed lost.

"I wish I could, but this injury on his head was extremely bad. If I don't use the proper things...he..." The owl felt terrible for making this with her, but it was the true."I'm sorry."

The peacock went to the cat's side, he could understand a bit of her pain. Even so lamenting wouldn't save Crane so peacock was aware of what to do.

"Can you borrow us time?" Shen asked. The owl was a bit surprised.

"Hum...yes, but what exactly you intend to do?"

"What exactly do you need?"

"Shen, you're not seriously thinking on going down there..." Fenghuang was at shock. The peacock smirked.

"I would like to have some fun, I think I'm healed enough for that," The peacock revealed his metal weaponry hidden in his robe. It's been a long time since I used those."

"Shen, you'll get yourself killed, those people are here mostly to kill you. What gives you a reason to do such foolish thing?"

"He saved my life...this is my chance to return the favor. And I won't sit here like a coward and let it happen. Are you dispose to take the risk to save him Mei Ling?" Shen said staring at the mountain cat kneeled besides the waterfowl.

The mountain cat slowly nodded. Her hopes were low but if there was at least one, it would be worthy of everything.

"We do have a chance, keep your hopes alive and never give up, we can do it...and we will."

**A/N: Oh, time for some dramatic events, and things will get nuts! - Have a nice week!**


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: Welcome back for another short reading, lol hehe. Anyway I got some 'interesting' replies, let's go for it.**

**BartesThePanda; **

_Honestly I could spent my time writing what I think about PoxTigress but that would take more than my entire fic so I'll be short. Okay, you think it's good, fine. Thank you. But then you're pointing about PxT and the number of chapters. First off, the number of chapters doesn't matter(as long it's not 100 to 900 words per chapter)now the real stuff. The reason of why It didn't show up yet it's, as you haven't notice, it's a fic that goes mainly around Crane and Shen, but I'm trying to give the others a lot more plot than even myself was tempted to do. There will be a PxT but I'll do it the way it looks better, not just some rush stuff with a lot of blahblah I love you all of sudden and a lot of insinuations. It's the same thing when people come to me talking about CranexViper, heck go talk about CranexViper to Charlie and you'll see what happens. I see that there's a lot of PoXTigress stories at the archive in the last two months and a lot of readers coming out of the blue, which amazed me. It's good, but it's also sad because there's a lot of other characters to work with and not many people give them a chance. Now if you wanna turn this archive into some fluffy thing like Tangled archive with 90% of its stories being a romance about the same two people you better try it on someplace else, it's not gonna be here buddy._

**Shen's General; **

_Thanks!Yeah, that guy is annoying. And he'll be even worse._

**Charlie ; **

_Oh well, that's something I would say in a more less educated manner, but I'm admired off not seeing a single censured word on your text._

**Crown Prince of Horror; **

_Hum...you know the cliffhangers are natural things sometimes, I do them a lot to get on people who curiosity of what's happening next. Okay, maybe sometimes I went over the dose. But I tend to do 3000 words per chapter so I was on the limit already. Thanks a lot about your opinion on Fenghuang, I so much want to give her a bigger plot. I think she was the most interesting character from the series, and to be honest...I can do a much better character from anything of that OOC series that Nick made. Yeah, I knew sometime someone would bring the whole PoxTigress stuff again. It's natural._

**BluTiger101; **

_Thanks! :)_

**Anonymousrules; **

_Yeah, I do it as such. :P_

**TheHonorableTest; **

_Great to see you again!And...I'm not making any promises... :P_

**Synchronized Harmony; **

_Welcome back!*hugs again* :) Thank you._

**ShootingStar; **

_I hope so._

**Unilever; **

_They might will, let's hope for it._

**Alpha tiger; **

_Tension might keep rising soon._

"Three Minutes!All men at position!"

The distant yell of a warrior was the sign that indicated the group of renegades have reached the Valley of Peace outskirts. Po, Tigress and Monkey were getting ready on their own. While looking around they could see faces filled with anxiety and determination, fear wasn't a deniable feeling at the moment, but they had no real reasons to fear nothing...yet.

"Well, this is it," Zach said while looking around and examining the edges of the river waiting to find a good area to land his troops."They are not expecting us to come from the back so we'll have to do this quick before they manage to counter-attack. Tigress, I know your group is strong, but you wouldn't mind if I detach few of my men along with you three?" He asked looking at the feline with slight concern.

Tigress though a bit before answering.

"It's up to you, if they can keep with us that's fine for me, but they're at their own risk. We'll be in a rush to clear a path straight to the Palace. I won't stop til those cannons are destroyed either. I cannot assure they'll be fine with us." The fox let out a smirk.

"No doubt, but I'm sending my best group at the moment along yours. They're lacking of two members that are currently at the Palace aiding your friends. I'll introduce you all to the team in a moment," Zach turned around to call his mentioned group. In the mean time Tigress entered into an conversation with Po and Monkey.

"Well, you two know what we gotta do," She said firmly.

"Errr..." Po said confused. Tigress rolled her eyes.

"Destroy the cannons and while I go to the Palace you two will look for the citizens,"

"Oh yeah, I hope dad's alright," The panda had a worried expression.

"Don't worry Po, I'm sure he's fine, despite of how much those imperials crossed the line here," Tigress in assurance.

"So you'll go up there and bring the others down to help us?" Monkey asked while looking at the Jade Mountain that was now clearly visible.

"I have to make sure they don't have a problem of their own, the fox guy said they have at least six thousand men at the Valley,"

At this Po and Monkey's eyes widened.

"Six thousand?Wow, gez that's a lot!" The simian was amaze. Po wasn't that much impressed.

"But so what?You guys defeat that ten thousand army, remember?!This is gonna be way less tiresome." He said convincingly.

Monkey and Tigress eyed each other discretely. They both shared discomfortable stares.

"Yeah, but imperial troops are way harder to fight against than that army was, we have to be careful."

Zach came back shortly after.

"Okay, most part of the team is on the other boats but you all will get along as soon we land. In the mean time I'll introduce one of our best warriors. Hey Trigger!Come here!"

After he called a well-muscled but slim hawk showed up. He had a black vest with a red phoenix running along one side of it. He also has black pants as well in contrast to his brown and white feathers. He has a crack on the left side of his beak and a scar over his right eye. His weapon being a singular crossbow that is a combo of a sickle, a whip, and a crossbow, as the edge of the bow is like a blade, while the handle can extend into a blade-like whip.

"What the heck do you want this time?!" The hawk replied annoyed while coming towards them. The kung masters raised eyebrows at his behavior. Zach chuckled nervously.

"He's kinda of a hot head sometimes, but he's very valuable so we have to stick with his way to be, even if sometimes he might run out of the limit." The fox explained to them in a tone of excuse.

"I hope you're not starting again that boring talk we had like hundreds of times ago. Seriously, I could get nightmares just by thinking on that."

"Alright, alright we got it," Zach said calmly. "This is the group of kung fu warriors you'll be with in the village."

The hawk examined them carefully.

"Why a panda?" He asked with mockery. Tigress snorted.

"He's the dragon warrior, you should do not underestimated him," She said while staring at the hawk in challenge.

"Hum...very well my lady, if you say so," He said suddenly becoming softer. "I'm assume you three are the ones I'll be babysitting while having to kill more damn Imperials. I was missing to have some heads to cut off,"

"Hey, we can take care of our own!We don't need you to watch our backs!" Monkey said feeling offended.

"Whatever you say, kids like you don't last in battles like this, all so convinced about yourselves and all. I've seen that before, you will die in a matter of minutes,"

It was clear that the kung fu warriors were disliking of the hawk minute by minute. Zach was afraid this would end badly.

"Enough of this talk please, we are here to work together and save the people we care for,"

"You maybe, I'm here just because I'm getting paid enough," Trigger said while checking his weaponry.

"Paid?" Po seemed shocked. Zach felt bad for what was happening.

"Hum...not ALL of our warriors do this for the right cause, at least not without some rewards. So that's why we're seem like criminals most times. We have to raid some towns to be able to sustain our army. It's not really easy as it looks like."

"Who's the leader?Who is behind all of this anyway?" Tigress asked straight to the fox. Zach was totally unsure of how to answer that.

"Well, we don't talk about that much,"

"You shouldn't, it's a secret and unless you wanna pay a high price for opening your mouth you better keep it shut." The hawk said harshly.

"I know that Trigger, but unlike you I do things different," Zach snapped back at the hawk with anger.

"Sure you do, your softness is what's carrying you away from getting a more important role in this," The hawk said before flying away to another boat. Zach growled.

"This guy always manages to get me nervous, I'm tired of him," The fox said angrily.

"He sure doesn't seem the most charming type," Tigress said while looking at the hawk flying around the boats.

"Heh, leave him alone with a woman and see how different he becomes, it astonishing," Zach said with a chuckle.

"How many others will be joining us?"

"About four or five, you'll be fine,"

**Meanwhile... **

"Shen, maybe you should let me do this, I'm more for a ready for a combat than you are,"

Fenghuang was trying to convince Shen to change his mind about going down the village. Not that she really cared that much about Crane, but she wasn't dispose to let the peacock take such risk.

"I can do it, or you think I'm weak?" The peacock replied back with irony.

"I never said that, I'm just saying I'm more up to the task of such level than you are at the moment. Besides you got wounded recently by the blast of the cannon. Mei Ling and I will do this...together if we have too,"

Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"If you don't wanna help me that's fine, Huang's my responsibility. I'm not forcing anyone to come along," The mountain cat said turning to leave. Fenghuand had use the waterfowl's ink to write the items the cat would need to bring.

Before any of them could reply a goose came flying inside the room and accidentally slammed against Mei Ling's head.

"Ow, oh my!I'm so sorry Master Ling!" Zeng said while recovering himself from the wooden floor. The cat merely caressed the back of her head.

"It's ok Zeng, what you're doing here anyway?"

"Uh?Oh yes!Err..Master Shifu send me to inform you that he's moving down to the village with the wolves and masters Viper and Mantis. He strongly recommended for you all to stay here if possible."

"Well, I'm sorry Zeng, but I'm moving down to the village too, we need to get some stuff there to help Huang to get better, if not..." Mei Ling paused for a moment. Zeng chuckled nervously.

"If not...what?"

"Mei Ling, there's not time to waste, we gotta move now," Fenghuang alerted her. The cat stared at Crane laying on the floor heavily injured. At each minute it passed the closest he was from death.

With a firm nod she turned her back away and left the room. Fenghuang and Shen stared at each other.

"Now it's the opportunity you were expecting," Shen said while looking severely at the owl. She said nothing, her face turning towards the injured waterfowl.

'_Despite of how much I hated them those last years,...I feel weird, why?Why I can't do this anymore?Did this crane found a way to soften the way I am?No...it gotta be something else. This don't feel right anymore.' _

The owl was lost in her own thoughts. Shen awaited patiently for her to reach at her own decision. After what seemed several minutes she finally did it.

"You were right...things can be different, if we try hard. It will take time but..."

"So you won't do it anymore?You'll forget about those plans of yours and move on to a different path, that's what you meant?" The peacock seemed to be having fun with this situation, but he couldn't forget that Crane was dying near them and there was no time for mockery.

Fenghuang stared back at the peacock with dare.

"Perhaps, I'm not making promises any sooner, but...I guess I can try it, try to be the person I was before everything that...I can try,"

"Well, it's always a start. Now shut up and listen, I WILL go down there you liking or not, you have to take care of Crane for now, do what you can. I'll do my part."

The owl sighed in defeat. She knew that nothing she said would make his mind, even so she had to try. As she saw the peacock leaving the room she couldn't help but let her concern be expressed.

"Be careful Shen,"

"Why?" He asked back while passing the door.

"Cause I care about you," She said, but almost as a whisper so Shen didn't hear. The owl went next to Crane examination the bandages.

Then, somehow, the waterfowl opened his eyes slowly. That surprised her deeply, after a major hit on the head she wasn't even expecting for him to wake up til tomorrow. Crane's eyes slowly studied the room around him before finally fixing on the owl. He slowly opened his beak as if he was trying to speak but nothing came out. The owl wondered if he was too dizzy to even talk. The way he was looking at her was quite disturbing, she wasn't sure if he was sad or in pain. No doubt in pain though.

"Crane, don't make any efforts, you're too wounded, you're bleeding too much. Just stay still."

Apparently the waterfowl could still understand, but curiously he lifted his left-wing towards her, the wing was missing several feathers. The owl wasn't sure what he wanted. She gave him a confused stared. Crane's eyes were going from her to his wing.

"You...want me...to..hold your wing?"

Crane blinked with one eye.

The owl felt extremely uncomfortable now, the one to do such things at this moment should be Mei Ling, not her!Why he was asking such towards her?

Despite of how odd it seemed she slowly extended her own wing to hold Crane's wing. The waterfowl seemed extremely thankful, why of that the owl didn't know. She couldn't help but feel pity of him.

"Just relax, you'll be fine," She said in a much softer manner than usual. Fenghuang hated to admit it, but she was actually caring about this bird, why?She didn't know why.

**Meanwhile... **

Paol and Ruskin were running down the stairs, the only reason they were running was that Master Shifu and the Viper and Mantis were way in front already.

"Gez, next time tell them that we go first so _they_ can catch up, not us!" Ruskin said, being obviously angry by the fact that he and Paol were staying behind and would get late to the fight.

"Well, told you we should have went down before they have even decide on do such, we're stealth experts, not speed experts."

"Whatever, just keep running, and watch for more of those damn fireballs, we barely missed few back there,"

"Aye,"

**Meanwhile... **

Master Shifu was on the lead with Mantis and Viper near him. Their main priority would be to engage the canons then go after to rescue the citizens. They were almost reaching the bottom of the stairs, right at that area they spotted several imperial troops keeping a defensive position. They had hundreds of soldiers in a very compressed area. Dai Lu Yan probably ordered them to keep a small stronghold at the location.

Shifu ordered his students to cover themselves before they could be in visual range. Using few small trees as cover they had to set a plan.

"That's a lot of them, what do you think Master Shifu?" Mantis asked the red panda hoping for a good way to assault the enemies without risking themselves too much.

Master Shifu stared at his students while thinking. There was no deny to the fact that numbers were totally against them, even so they had enough skills to make things even, but with such imperial soldiers that were far more better trained than the Furious Five usual enemies. Things weren't so simple. If they only could have Po, Tigress and Monkey back. Crane would have been extremely valuable due the excessive number of archers the imperial troops had.

"I wonder where the renegade boys are at?" Viper said casually while looking around. Mantis let out a chuckle.

"I'm sure they can hide but can't run that well,"

**Meanwhile... **

"OPEN FIRE!"

The landing for the renegades did not come as expected. Waves of imperial troops were at the edges of the main river, after realizing their position Zach ordered a full assault. Clouds of arrows were delivered against the imperials, killing hundreds in few seconds. Being taken by surprise the survivors ran away deep into their own lines while screaming for help. Dozens of renegades were at the village's most distant houses. They were cleaning up one by one. None of the imperials that were killed could even notice what happened. Few squad leaders from the imperial army gathered a counter-attack. The renegades lost their move forward and went to a stood while engaging at distance the enemy.

Trigger was moving along with a squad of wolves and a huge eagle. Po, Tigress and Monkey were admired by his size. They never saw a bird so big apart of Fenghuang or Crane. They made their moves at the flanks of the town. Mostly Trigger would kill whatever came in front of him, while in the case of Po, Tigress and Monkey was more about send the imperials flying away. The havoc they were causing was soon reaching all the corners of the village.

Most of the imperials that were being assault panicked when they saw how devastating was the impact the enemy could deliver. None of them were expecting a sudden all out war, dozens of warriors were abandoning their positions and trying to escape from the village.

Did not took too long for Dai Lu Yan to be informed about it. He ordered his troops to defend the canons at all cost. Even so his men didn't know that there were more canons that Dai Lu Yan was keeping. He only had brought those for testing. Now he found himself wondering who was the dangerous group that had infiltrated all of sudden and was killing so many of his troops. The jaguar couldn't care less though, he knew he could gather more troops later. If all those men here died it wouldn't make no difference for him. They were expendable.

After thirty-seven minutes over seventeen-hundred imperials were dead. The renegades suffered few of their own casualties as well. Trigger was leading his group towards the nearest canons that was still firing at the Jade Mountain.

**Meanwhile... **

Mei Ling watched carefully as another fireball exploded down at the staircases. She was at the courtyard studying the confusing developing down there. Her sensitive ears allowed her to her the several screams at distance. A terrifying view of the Valley of Peace being destroyed slowly. She heard metal clanging, after turning back she saw Shen coming at her. His expression was quite curious.

"Are you ready?I think we're already missing some fun," The peacock said with a smirk. Mei Ling felt uneasy. "Don't worry, I'm can't change everything in my way to be,"

"It's all good," She said while facing back towards the village."At least we have the advantage of being night."

The peacock watched her carefully. The cat was clearly tense and, if not, afraid.

"Remember when I told that I wouldn't make any promises about myself?" Shen suddenly asked. Mei Ling stared astonished at him.

"Hum...yeah...I do...but why..-

"We'll get what we need and save him...I promise."

Mei Ling couldn't help but smile.

"You're nothing like the men I met at Gongmen anymore, you changed. You're kinda sweet now."

Maybe the mountain cat was seeing things, but Shen's face had reddened all of sudden.

"S-Shut up y-you fool, now let's go down there already," He said somewhat embarrassed. Mei Ling chuckled.

"Oh, maybe someone has a sensitive side after all," She said playfully.

_'Gods, I hope going down those stairs won't take too long'_ Shen though with himself while blushing.

**A/N: Oh, well. I wanted badly to make more for this chapter, but things have to go on their own pace.**


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N: Yeah, another chapter!This one was tough, I couldn't fit everything I wanted, but hopefully it will be enough. Since this is just a part of the work I intended to do I'll leave the replies for you all in the next chapter!**

Dai Lu Yan was making his way out of the Valley, few dozens of troops along with him. He stopped for a moment to stare back at the village. In the deep of the night he could see several houses on fire and the dense smoke coming out of them. Also some times he would see one of his warriors flying above the roofs, probably after being knocked out by one of the unexpected visitors. His didn't felt at all concerned about what happened here, his plans were on the way and this Valley would mean nothing for him. At purpose he let several squads behind not to fight and gain him some time to flee, but to die.

"It's good to see how effective those weapons the peacock created really are. Probably it's the only thing he made worthy of his pathetic life," The jaguar said to himself with a smirk. He felt disappointed they didn't manage to kill Shen. Now seeing how those people on the Jade Palace had actually believed the peacock was different made him stunned. Were they out of their minds?What on earth would make them think that Shen could be a good person?

For Dai Lu Yan it was all a great joke.

"Soon I'll get what I want and nothing of this will matter anymore."

**Meanwhile...**

"INCOMING!"

The scream that was heard several streets away brought everyone on the alert. They all stared at the same direction that one of the canons was set on. The monstrous weapon was now pointed at one of the renegade groups and ready to fire. One of the soldiers saw that and gave the alert, one second later the cannon fired.

The fireball went at their direction with terrible speed. Everyone tried to get out of the way, but then the cannonball hit straight into a small building exploding inside of if and throwing debris everywhere. Whoever was inside probably got killed and those outside of it that were near got knocked out. The building collapsed instantly.

"They're firing at us!Get out of visual range now!"

Fear has overcome on most of the renegades, they have no idea of how to counter-attack such firepower. While flying over the houses Trigger took notice of the explosion few blocks away from his group. He dazed back towards the ground immediately.

"I found one, to east few streets away. We need to hurry, they're firing at our men," The hawk informed to his squad. After they start moving he directed himself towards the members of the Furious Five present."There's another canon in the path for the Jade Palace, I think you kids can handle that one," He said with a smirk.

Tigress totally didn't like being called a kid, she growled menacingly while staring daggers at the hawk.

"Thanks, we'll make our way there," Po said while carefully pushing Tigress to come with him and Monkey. Trigger watched silently as the kung fu warriors left, then another explosion warned him to hurry.

"How far you think it's the other canon?" Monkey asked while running along with Po and Tigress back to the Palace.

"We'll find out soon, after we take that one out go search for the villagers. I'll make my way up there and make sure everything is fine," The female tiger said while watching the corners of every street they were passing through.

They entrance at the village was rather unpleasant. For their bad luck they head straight for the strongest squad of the imperials present. They were fearless warriors that would give upon their lifes only to manage to kill their enemies. It was rather shocking, even for Tigress, when they saw one of the imperials dazing at them with so much ferocity despite getting nailed by several arrows. It was like he got hit by nothing, and the worst it's that the imperial managed to kill one of Trigger's men by impaling him with a lance. The hawk got extremely infuriated and decapitated the imperial in a split of second. That was not the prettiest sight at all, and none of the Five or Po were prepared to see so much blood. It made them sick. After losing one of his men the hawk took charge on the imperials killing them without mercy.

Soon as they though they found the canon that was most nearby the Jade Mountain and it was still firing at it. That would make things easier since the imperials around the canon were way too distracted reloading the weapon. Tigress, Po, and Monkey were hiding behind some barrels, but the barrels weren't big enough to hide Po. While passing by an imperial soldier looked at that direction, he frowned at the strange sight of something white around the barrel. Tigress saw the soldier stopping and looking at that direction with wonder.

_'Dammit, he spotted us!'_ The feline though with apprehension. The soldier slowly made his way towards the barrels, but apparently he forgot to be careful and never brought his weapon at hands._'Perfect.' _

When he was only few meters away Tigress jumped out of her spot and landed in front of the imperial. The sudden appearance apparently shocked him so much that he only managed to stare at fear.

"I might let you go away if you keep shut, but before that I'll need some answers," Tigress said with venom. The imperial gulped.

"Uh...w-wha...what kind?" He asked while trying to not freak out. He feared for his life, it's not like he wanted to fight a war. None of the imperials wanted, or most at least. Dai Lu Yan had set this up and it was coming clearly obvious for most imperials present at the village that they were left behind for their doom. Still some apparently decided to keep some sense of loyalty and kept carrying the jaguar's orders.

"Who ordered this attack?And why?"

Po and Monkey came near Tigress, they felt bad for the imperial guy, but their pity was extremely limited. since he made part of the group that was destroying their home.

"I can't tell exactly who...but we were following orders from Dai Lu Yan, why we're doing this is something he never told us, but mostly he said it was to try out those canons,"

Tigress actually believed his words, he didn't have why to lie now. She stared at the antelope while wondering what to do with him.

"Let him go Tigress," Po said all of sudden snapping the feline out of her thoughts.

"And risk having him reporting our location?" She asked back with concern.

"He won't said anything, right?" Po looked at the imperial with a serious expression.

"I won't!I promise!" He immediately replied scared to death.

Tigress glanced went from Po to the antelope, after few seconds she agreed. The imperial left without looking back while the kung fu warriors made their way to the nearest cannon. More explosion were heard as the renegades were trying take the other two down. There was only one canon still firing at the Jade Mountain.

Po, Tigress spread on the left while Monkey went to the right. They would assault the imperials from both sides to lower their focus of resistance. With a sign of fallen dish breaking they all took charge at same time.

The imperials took notice almost immediately and went for their weapons. They only had one bowmen and his accuracy with arrows was terrible. He missed Po by meters while the panda punched the first soldier on the face. Tigress wasted no time to finish two more with killing blows from her heavy arms. Her punches would crack their armor in several spots. Monkey was fighting against three on his own, but instead of attacking him with weapons the imperials were trying to capture him. The simian smirked at the pathetic attempt. Monkey made use of a bamboo as a staff to hit the imperials hard. The bowmen watched hopeless as his companions were being defeated in matter of seconds. Only one though was on his mind at the moment...run away.

And that's what he did after all the others were down. None of the masters bothered to chase him and they decided to finish the canon. It was rather surprising of how defenseless it was, they were expecting a lot more imperials. Little did they know that Dai Lu Yan removed almost his entire force that wasn't fighting against the renegades or the masters. Surprisingly though he left a large group a the bottom of the thousand steps for no reason whatsoever considerate the situation.

"Okay, this canon is out of action. Po, you and Monkey go look for the villagers, I'll make my way to the temple." Tigress said after the canon was heavily damaged with Tigress strong kicks.

"Alright, be careful Tigress," Po said hesitantly while following Monkey to the opposite direction.

'I am, don't worry," She replied back with a smile. It was quite interesting for her how Po would always be worried about their safety despite of how much any of the Five would know how to take care. It was natural for the panda to care deeply about them and Tigress got use with his way to be.

The feline stared at the thousand steps. She saw few focus of fire where the cannonballs had crashed. But it was impossible for her to see anything else clearly due the darkness.

Tigress realized that there was a big squad of imperials at the bottom of the stairs, she hide herself inside a small house and stared through the small window. The number of imperials was eight times bigger than the crew of that canon. This ones were heavily armored and had a good number of archers. It would be too dangerous to engage by herself.

**Meanwhile... **

"Next...time...you...wait...ok?" Ruskin said to Master Shifu while recovering his breath. The long run down the stairs was terrible. Paol was at his side checking the imperial squad at the bottom while also trying to recover.

"I'm sorry, we had no idea you guys were out of shape," Mantis said with a smirk. Ruskin glared daggers at him.

"Whatever, I wonder why you're all stuck here and not in the village yet, I though you would be able to handle some imperials."

"We need your assist with those down there, your bowmen skills are extremely valuable in this occasion," The red panda said with severity.

"If you say so..." Paol was staring at wonder at the bottom of the staircase." There's around fifty there. We may kill half in less than a minute. You have to flank them while we shoot straight from higher positions. This will make their archers worry about us and give you all ground to engage on close combat."

Everyone stared at the wolf. Paol noticed this while turning around.

"What?"

"Since when you turn into a strategist?" His old brother asked. Paol chuckled.

"An old friend from long time ago taught me some stuff about it. Logic is the elementary key for the best strategy, and also some luck while taking the risks."

"Never heard about that before, when was this?" Ruskin seemed curious.

"Uh, long time ago, maybe twelve years, when we were at Ulyian Regions. He was an avian if I remind correctly. He was a bit old. His name was...huh...I think it was Shiang...Shiang Jien."

Master Shifu instantly froze at his spot. That name was way too familiar for him, especially since he learn it from Master Oogway.

"Never heard of him before, but you were really you to be taught war lessons, why he did such?" Ruskin was truly intrigued.

"Well,...I'm not sure, I think it was something about me reminding of his son that had left them and never was heard of again."

The red panda felt his hearth sunk, he knew who that was and why his son disappeared.

"Well, let's save stories for later, shall we?" Viper asked gently as possible since there was a battle going on at the moment and they shouldn't be telling stories to each other instead.

"Agreed," Mantis said while jumping on Ruskin's shoulder."Let's engage those guys and take them out of the way already.

**Meanwhile... **

Mei Ling and Shen were about to descend the stairs, but then Shen realized we wouldn't be able to catch up with the mountain cat since his feathers were damage and there was no way he could just flew to the village.

"You'll have to go ahead, I'll get there best way I can," The peacock said while feeling angry about the fact he would get behind, as Ruskin and Paol had. Mei Ling seemed to understand what was going in the peacock's mind.

"You know, I can carry you down..." She suggested timidly. Shen's face went incredible red.

"Err..." Was all he could said. The mountain cat also felt embarrassed. Shen closed his eyes while thinking hard. Despite of how shameful that would seem it was for a good reason. Saving Crane would matter more right now than silly things like being carried down.

"Fine, but you better put me down if someone comes nearby, and you better don't tell about this to anyone," Shen's voice was trembling, either with fear or anger. Mei Ling nodded with a smile.

"I promise,"

**Meanwhile... **

"They're coming on the left, cover!"

"More squads converting on us!"

"Where's the last cannon?!"

Trigger and his squad managed to take down the first cannon they had spot. Now they were looking for the last one, but no success so far, only thing they found was dozen of enemies troops. The renegades did well but, sadly, they suffered their casualties, far more than they feared. Trigger lost three men in his squad, two really close friends of his. Some times this job wasn't worthy of the payment.

"Gather few men to the north main river, that's the last spot to check, the imperials are making their way out of the Valley through there," Trigger had sent the eagle to the Great Bell, that was the best spot from the entire Valley to see what was going on around the village. Despite being night the eagle had a great vision.

"They're retreating to the north, we got them on the run!" One of the soldiers screamed, several cheers were heard across the battle as the renegades confidence on their victory grew quickly. The imperials know they were losing and many were giving up of fighting back, none of them was ever prepared to a battle like this, at least nobody had warn them this could happen.

Zach was fighting along his men bravely, he had a glee on his eyes when the renegades realized of their imminent victory. Yallin was leading one of the squads that suffered most casualties during the battle. Zach brought his own to aid them when the imperials tried to direct all their attack at Yallin's surrounded squad, but when they lost the first cannon it became clear the imperials couldn't hold their ground anymore. Trigger came at the right moment to bring down the crew of the first cannon, with some difficult they made use of that cannon against the imperials, with the monstrous weapon turned at them the imperials had no choice, but run away.

"Trigger!"Called Zach from distance, the hawk came at him without worry."I'll bring my squad with yours to the north. Yallin will gather the rest and check for the wounded and death," The fox paused for a moment, every one of those men who died was a friend of his, losing them was like losing a part of his family.

"If you say so," Trigger replied while looking around, there was several houses destroyed and still some on fire, countless bodies were laying on the ground, either from dead or wounded, it was hard to tell."I'll bring them back and we'll keep on the move, it's funny that we didn't find the third cannon yet, I notice it had stop firing for some reason."

**Meanwhile... **

Po and Monkey were congratulation each other for their success. Both master managed to bring down the third cannon that was pathetically defended by few imperials and no cover whatsoever. Their fight wasn't hard and only lasted few seconds. After doing a victory dance they brought themselves to reality and went to find the missing villagers.

"Where they could be?It's not like the Valley is that huge," Po said getting tired of walking around searching for them.

"I don't know Po, where else they could hide so many people?Maybe they're being held at the plantations and since it's dark we can't see them at distance, we have to spread a bit more," Monkey replied back while bringing down a lonely imperial that tried to run through them while looking behind. The imperial was too worried with the renegade group closing behind while he was trying to flee.

"Perhaps, maybe I should go up the river while you check the other side. We may find them somewhere." Po was clearly worried about the villagers, but mostly about his dad. He regretted deeply leaving the Valley, but since their search ended on getting help from saving it from destruction he couldn't blame himself so much.

"Sounds like a plan, see you on the other side."

**Meanwhile... **

The imperials at the bottom of the thousands steps were now the only remaining ones in the village, but they weren't aware of it. Tigress was hoping for a weakness on their group to strike, but then arrows came from nowhere and few of them dropped death to the ground. Almost immediately their arches fired back, this was the chance she was looking for.

Tigress charged at them with extreme ferocity, she did not saw Master Shifu, Mantis and Viper coming from the flanks to attack them at the same moment. The result was amazing.

The group of imperials, being attacked from all sides, seemed it was smashed by a tornado of kicks and punches. Several flew meters away while others merely dropped to the ground knocked out or paralyzed by Shifu's chi movements. Just the initial attack of Tigress had driven twenty imperials down in seconds. Ruskin and Paol finished the last imperials left and moved down to met with the masters.

"Tigress!" Mantis and Viper screamed happily when they saw the female tiger along with them. Shifu let out a sigh of relieve when he saw her as well. Tigress smiled at them, she was glad to see they were alright.

"What happened Tigress?Where's the others?" Shifu asked with some urgency while coming close to her.

"They're fine Master, we left for a moment, but we came along with some people who wanted to help us in this fight." Just then Tigress saw the two wolves nearby."I guess you two are renegades too, huh?"

"You're right, are you another kung fu master too?" Tigress nodded."Nice moves, that was impressive."

"I believe you came with lots of other of our own with you," Paol said while studying the female tiger. The wolf was impress by her strength, and would also found her pretty wasn't for the way she would stare sometimes.

"I did, a lot to explain I have Master, I'm sorry," Tigress said while turning towards Shifu. The red panda nodded.

"Indeed, but we'll leave that for later, we must find the villagers."

"Agreed," Tigress said while noticing something." Where's Crane?"

There was a moment of silence.

"He's hurt, and badly," Paol informed her. Tigress concern grew immensely.

"He'll be alright?" She asked carefully to the wolf.

"We...don't know," The wolf said with honesty. Tigress frowned.

"Who's taking care of him?"

"I left Mei Ling, Shen and Fenghuang for the task," Master Shifu informed. Tigress eyes went wide.

"Fenghuang?!Master, what did I miss?" The feline was extremely shocked.

"A lot, and seeing what happened down here so we did, let's move on. If you want to go upstairs and check on Crane feel free to do it so Tigress, we can handle this I believe."

The red panda left with Mantis, Viper and the renegades. Tigress stood at wonder. Shifu never gave her the opportunity to make a choice like that, but he also was right, they could handle it. The tiger stared towards the Palace while thinking. Fenghuang was there with Shen and Mei Ling, how unlikely that would seem?But then Crane was wounded and at danger and didn't know how badly it was. She felt that, this time, she would look up for him. The feline rushed upstairs.

**Meanwhile... **

Mei Ling was descending the thousand steps with less difficult than she expected, with Shen on her back with his wings crossed around her neck and legs above her arms she was having no problem of balance. The mountain cat wouldn't be able to go on her full speed, but by jumping she was covering a good distance even so.

Shen was feeling totally uncomfortable with this, if Crane ever heard about it he would mock the peacock forever or be angry about it. They'll were half way there when they saw someone coming upstairs. Mei Ling quickly brought Shen to the ground and went into a fighting stance. Shen was on his own waiting for the right moment to strike. After a minute they felt relieved when they saw it was Tigress coming at them at full speed.

"Tigress!" Mei Ling greeted her happily when the female tiger stopped few meters in front.

"Mei Ling, are you alright?" She asked formally. The feline tiger didn't bother to look at Shen.

"Yeah, but..." Mei Ling's expression saddened. Tigress knew why.

"How's he?" She asked.

"Worse, I need to get down to the Valley quick, there's some things we need. Fenghuang is taking care of him at the moment, if-

"You let _her_ alone with Crane?!" Tigress was astonish and a bit angry. Mei Ling seemed upset as well.

"I trust her, she's willing to help Crane, and if we don't do something quick Crane will die in few hours."

A deep silence went through Tigress ears. What the cat said seemed out of reality. Crane...will die?Impossible...did he got hurt that bad as Tigress feared?

"What do you need?" Tigress felt willing to help immediately. The mountain cat shook her head.

"I'll do this and I'll bring Shen with me, go see if Crane got better somehow," She said before closing on Shen and turning his back on him. Tigress raised and eyebrow as the peacock let out a groan of anger at what the cat did. Mei Ling reminded herself about her promise and quickly took few steps away."Hum...you should get going Tigress..." She said nervously.

Without further questions Tigress made her way up. Mei Ling waited til she was out of sight.

"I'm sorry," She said to the peacock.

"Fine, just be more careful. Last person I want to see me in this way is her."

**Meanwhile... **

Fenghuang was still staring at Crane's eyes. She was having an odd feeling about Crane's reaction, he seemed somewhat unaware of his actions, as if his body was moving but with no conscious.

Her both wings were still holding his. Crane's beak was still opening and closing slowly sometimes, the bird was trying to speak but he had no strength for it. She only could wonder what he was trying to say.

Few more awkward minutes passed and his behavior was still the same expect that he stopped trying to talk and just stared blinking sometimes.

Fenghuang heard strong footsteps outside. Before she could react the door opened abruptly revealing Master Tigress. If the owl was feeling uneasy that feeling just grow ten times more.

"Fenghuang," Tigress said almost in a whisper. Then the tiger stared at Crane, her expression of distrust changed completely to one of perplexity. She couldn't believe on her eyes when she saw the state Crane was. It was like as if he was hit by one of those cannons.

But then she realized her own though. He probably _got_ hit by one.

"How's he?" Tigress asked. Despite of how much distrust the tiger would have about the owl she was far more concerned about her teammate and dear friend. After few seconds the owl found the words.

"Not good at all, I'm amazed he managed to wake up after what happened. Even more that he's still alive."

"For how long?" Tigress asked while kneeling besides Crane. She watched sadly as Crane, for the first time, stared at something else than the owl. His eyes were barely open. The question caught Fenghuang out of guard.

"Hum...I think that, maybe two hours...on the maximum,"

Tigress felt the impact of those words hit her like a heavy hammer. It couldn't be, Crane couldn't die, he can't...

"Mei Ling...please hurry."

**A/N: Woah!I haven't done a chapter big like this in ages!Phew, this was awesome!Let's have hopes for Crane's recover in next chapter, have a great week!**


	38. Chapter 38

**A/N: Alright, back with the chapter 38 and let's go straight for the replies!**

**Blue Tiger;**

_Don't worry, he'll be 'kinda' alright._

**Shen's General;**

_There will be some but not yet, wait for it :P_

**Crown Prince of Horror **

_Thanks a lot, it's hard to do the same for all the chapters, sometimes we have to lighten things a bit, he. :P_

**TheHonorableTest;**

_Lol, thanks!_

**Unilever;**

_Yes, they did, but they'll recover it._

**Anonymousrules;**

_Hehe, that one was good, he got sooo upset XD_

**ShifuFanatic;**

_Indeed, it will go far for sure._

**ShootingStar;**

_Don't worry, he can do it._

**Bluewings;**

_Wow!Welcome bad man, where have you been?University?Lol, great to see you again!I honestly forgot you was checking this story too. :p_

**Charlie B. Barkin**;

_I'm too Charles, I'm too, thanks for all the support._

**strange dude;**

_Lol, you got sick of that too?No wonder, great to have you back! :)_

**Guest;**

_Perhaps I can do it in this fic, but them we all know how hard it's to do any kind of possible pairing around Monkey, anything I try to do him about him would be totally new in all aspects, it's a shoot in the dark, I might try it._

**Fan;**

_Hum...I believe there will be ShenxCrane LATER, not now. Besides I'm amazed you haven't seen them interact so much with each other._

**Guest;**

_I don't wanna turn TiXPo into a dilemma, I know how people see this pairing and how they feel about it, but them no matter what pairing it is it just TAKES TIME, so I'll get there one time, but I won't rush anything since this pairing is much harder than CranexMei Ling. _

**Anonymous;**

_Please take it easy, it happens, you get used with it._

Day was finally rising above Valley of Peace after one of the most terrible nights since Tai Lung's rage. Weak spots of light were growing through the mountains at distance revealing the results of the bloody combat.

Shen and Mei Ling have reached at the village after a couple of minutes. Both of them stopped while observing the destruction that occurred during the battle. Many houses suffered damage while other were completely destroyed by fire. Several corpses were laying on the streets scattered around the area.

The renegades have secure the village and the outskirts. Po and Monkey managed to found the villagers nearby a rice field. Apparently Dai Lu Yan had no plans for them and just decided to get them out of the way. The panda was too busy to notice the impacts of the battle while talking with his dad, only when all of them entered the village the reality of the situation hit them.

Overall the imperials had lost almost two thousand men while the renegades suffered over three hundred casualties. The only good news for the renegades is that they have one of the cannons on their custody.

Zach and Yallin were working on the 'cleaning' along the other renegade survivors. Some imperials were captured and were being held prisoners inside a house. Master Shifu, Viper and Mantis arrived on the end of the battle, but only to prevent the prisoners from getting killed by Trigger, who wasn't in a good mod. The hawk, despite being paid or not, lost many friends in this battle and that was too hard for him to deal with than he expected.

Po and Monkey regrouped with Master Shifu and the others at the center of the village.

"Well, I guess we won, Valley is safe again," Monkey while looking at some dead imperials laying on the ground. "What we'll do with all those dead?"

"Hum, we'll take our dead back to their families, for those who still had one, or back to their home villages. About the imperials I don't know, I'll let Master Shifu think about it," Zach said looking expectantly at the red panda near him.

After Shifu introduced himself as Grand Master of the Jade Palace the fox explained to the red panda he organized this assault to help Po, Tigress, and Monkey while doing things to the interest of the renegades. Shifu nodded understandingly at this and thanked them for the aid. The red panda was still curious to know more about their group, it didn't seem they were what he heard about.

"Gather the dead imperials on the outskirts, we'll think on something later, we need to clean the town first. Where you keeping the wounded?"

"At the first house on the other side of the main river, the prisoners are in a house nearby it."

"Very well, I still need to check on my students, one of them is heavily injured," Shifu said after reminding of Crane's state.

"Alright, look for them first, we'll check on the rest later,"

"Master Shifu, should we go back and see how's Crane?" Viper asked with extreme worry for the waterfowl.

"Agreed Viper, you all go ahead, I still need to discuss some matters here," The red panda said before turning around to return his conversation with Zach.

Po, Monkey, Mantis and Viper eyed each other briefly.

"Let's go then," Mantis said.

The group made their way to Jade Palace. Far in front they would encounter with Mei Ling and Shen.

**Meanwhile...**

"You found it yet?" Shen asked while looking at the closets filled with herbs and stuff. They were in the new hospital build few months ago thanks a charity event.

"Not yet, keep looking," Mei Ling replied. By her voice Shen could tell she was extremely tense. Few minutes passed by, in which the mountain cat was agonizing, worried with the possibility they wouldn't find what they needed, it's been over an hour since they left the Palace, they would need to get back quickly otherwise it would be too late.

"Found it!" She screamed happily and relieved at same time. Shen went to her side to observe the weird flower she was holding. It had a mix of colors from blue to orange.

"What is that?" The peacock asked curious.

"It's a rare flower for medicinal needs, only used on extreme cases. It can be sold but it's incredible expensive," She said while walking to the door."Hurry up, we need to go back!"

Shen reached outside in second, but Shen walked out slowly.

"You go ahead, there's no time to carry me, not that I want to anyway," Shen said while moving towards other direction.

Mei Ling nodded and sprinted to return to the palace. Shen watched as the mountain cat left.

_'He'll make it, he always do after all, despite his appearance his tougher than it seems.'_

"Hey!Who are you?"

Shen turned around to face two men dressed like the renegade wolves het met at the Palace.

"I believe you're also renegades," Shen said almost as if casually. Both renegades nodded while eyeing the peacock carefully."Very well, don't worry about me, I'm with the kung fu masters. Do you know where they're at the moment?"

"Hum, if you're talking about the red panda he's two blocks away talking with our commander. The rest went back to the Palace," Shen gave him a slight nod.

"Well, if you excuse me I have to go," Shen said while turning around in an alley.

"Hey, wait!" Both wolves ran after him but when they enter the alley the peacock was gone."Wha...how he did that?"

**Meanwhile...**

"Hold him, quick!I need to give him something to calm down!

Fenghuang searched frenetically around the room for a specific item while Tigress was trying to keep Crane immobilized on the floor. The waterfowl was suffering strong convulsions. The owl seemed extremely tense.

"If we don't get him what he really needs there won't be much left to do," She said while forcing something inside Crane's throat. After few seconds the bird stood quietly on the floor again.

"What you gave him?" Tigress asked while slowly releasing the bird from her grip.

"Something made at home, best you can have and really hard to find," Fenghuang replied with a chuckle.

"What exactly..." But before Tigress could make further questions Crane groaned.

"Uhhh, arr...my head...where am I?" Crane opened his eyes slowly, thankfully it wasn't too brightly in the room otherwise so much light would have hurt his eyes.

"Crane!" Tigress seemed somewhat surprised and relieved.

"What?...who's there?" He asked while looking around. Then he saw the owl and Tigress."Oh, hey there..."

"Are you alright?" She asked while looking carefully at the bird.

"I don't know, you tell me if you want," He said while trying to stood up, but Fenghuang didn't let him.

"Don't move, you're not healthy yet. I can't risk to make you injury worse,"

"Errr...alright," Crane said while laying on his back."What happened with me?"

"You were hit by a cannonball," Tigress informed dryly.

"A what?" The waterfowl seemed totally confused.

"Hum...cannonball?Do you remember what those are?" Tigress asked noticing something odd with the bird.

"I have no idea what you're talking about miss," He said with a painful laugh. "Wow, my head hurts bad."

"Miss?" Both Fenghuang and Tigress raised an eyebrow at this."Crane, do you know where you are?"

"Hum...in a inn?" He asked with a chuckle.

"No, you're at your room at Jade Palace, remember?" Tigress was really worried now.

"Hum...not really, but...anyways...who are you?"

**Meanwhile... **

Mei Ling sprinted through the Palace doors like there was no tomorrow. She was already at the dorms while keeping her hopes high, sure it wouldn't be too late for Crane, she probably made it in time.

"I got it!" She said entering the room like a lightning bolt. She felt all her concern disappear for a second when she saw Crane stare at her in pure shock.

"Mei Ling?"

"Huang!You're ok?!But I though..." She didn't mind if Tigress and Fenghuang where there, the only thing she wanted to do now was kiss him. She throw the bag with the herbs near the owl while crouching aside the waterfowl.

"Mei Ling...I think that..." Tigress tried to warn, but the feline had no idea how to explain the situation.

"I'm..I'm good. Well, not totally good but...I'm here. Why are you here too anyway?"

"What?" She asked while smiling delighted by the fact Crane was conscious.

"What you're doing here? I though you were traveling to Yang Shi for an escort mission," The waterfowl while looking at her with wonder.

Mei Ling felt her smile slowly dissipate and being replaced by a expression of pure concern.

"Huang...that was like nineteen years ago, what going on?"

"You tell me, and why you look so different?You're even more beaut...errr...I mean...you look stronger..."

"I'm afraid I know," Fenghuang said while looking at the waterfowl blushing intensely. Tigress and Mei Ling stared at her expecting the answer."This is the kind of rare memory loss that happens after a major concussion on the head. Mostly after a hit like that people would die, apparently in Crane's case the only thing that died were his memories from the previous years."

"How much years he forgot about?" Tigress asked straight. Fenghuang took a moment to reply.

"Perhaps the most important, at least the last fifteen years."

A cold silence fell over the room, at that moment they heard several footsteps outside. They all turned to see Po, Monkey, Mantis and Viper at the door.

"We made it!" The panda said rushing inside the room and hugging Tigress and Mei Ling. "We won!Woohoo, they're were no match for us since the beginning, ha!"

"Po?" Tigress said.

"Yeah?"

"Get off me," The panda quickly released Tigress and Mei Ling.

"Sorry," Po said embarrassed.

"But that was awesome!We show them the power of the Jade Palace and how they're no match for our kungfuness and.."

"Even so Dai Lu Yan managed to get away, something we shouldn't let happen," Tigress said harshly.

"Yeah, but I'm glad we could defeat them, wasn't for those renegades we would be doomed," Mantis remarked.

"I agree with Mantis on that, they put a lot of sacrifice the help us, we're in debt with them," Viper said supporting Mantis opinion.

"Well, on that you're right. Hopefully they'll stay here and help us to keep an eye on things. We don't have enough to go after Dai Lu Yan, wherever he might went to.

Everyone else entered the room to see how Crane was doing.

Mei Ling didn't say a word since Fenghuang informed about Crane's symptom. She seemed to realize how much that would affect them all.

"Hey, Crane!How you doing buddy?" Mantis said jumping on the floor near the avian.

"Huh?" Crane moved only his eyes to look at the bug."Who are you?"

"I knew you would get be...what?" Mantis looked at him astonished, and so did the others.

"Crane?Are you alright?" Po asked while checking to see how bad was the wounds Crane suffered.

"Do I know you?" Crane asked with a hint of annoyance.

"What's going on here? Viper asked looking straight at Fenghuang. The owl was already using the herbs Mei Ling brought to heal the avian, she mixed it inside a small bowl along other stuff.

"Crane suffered a major hit on the head that caused memory loss. He had no idea who you all are except for Mei Ling, but the only thing he reminds about her is the first days on the academy."

"What?!" Viper, Monkey, Mantis and Po we're shocked by this information.

"But...he lost his memories...forever?"

Mei Ling finally managed to speak, but her voice came out really weak. That didn't came unnoticed by Tigress.

"I don't know, maybe he recovers maybe not," Fenghuang replied while bringing the small bowl near the avian. "Crane, I need you to drink this, it will make you feel better."

"Heck!I'm not drinking that!I don't even know you," The avian said in protest while trying to get up. Mei Ling pinned him down.

"Huang, calm down, she's a friend, ok?" The mountain cat asked carefully. The fact Crane forgot so many years probably would drive him back into his younger self. Lack of confidence , shyness and nervousness.

"Can you tell me what's going on?How did I got here?!" He asked while breathing quickly.

"Calm down," She said again, but the waterfowl was at the edge of hyperventilation. Without a second thought she planted a kiss on his beak. The shock was so great that Crane's reaction ceased instantly.

With his beak wide open Fenghuang dispose an orange liquid inside Crane's throat.

"Gharrghh!" The avian tossed and grunted while feeling the disgusting taste of whatever she just gave him.

"Now we should let him get some sleep, he'll need it," Fenghuang recommended while looking at them expectantly." Except for you Ling, someone's need to stay here and tell him what's going on, not that he'll believe on everything so quickly anyway."

Following her suggestion all the master apart of the cat left the room. Crane and Mei Ling stared at each other while hearing the footsteps of the others disappearing at distance.

"So...how have you been?" Crane asked rather formally.

**Meanwhile... **

"No, I'm not moving my men from here Shifu, we need some time to rest and recover. I cannot leave the town already, besides we got reports that more imperials might arrive in the next days." Zach said somewhat angrily.

The last hour has been extremely tense around the leaders of the renegades and the people from Valley of Peace. Master Shifu was concern about the safety of the villagers and wanted the renegades to leave soon as possible. Zach had a different point of view, his men were exhausted and few days at the Valley would made great for them to recover. Also he offered their services to repair the damaged houses, at this he gained some trust of the villagers and had them favoring the decision for them to stay.

"I do not want to put those people at risk, you know what I'm saying," Master Shifu replied back while looking around at the devastation site.

"I do, but them what would've been of them if we didn't arrived in time?You really think that freak of Dai Lu Yan would've let them alone?I doubt of it."

"Sir, all the men are accounted for, we're ready to transport the deceased back homeland," The eagle from Trigger's squad informed him.

"Thanks Helo, I'll give more info later. You can tell the men at the boats they can proceed."

"Aye," The eagle left flew delivering a powerful gust of wind due his huge wings. Master Shifu eyed the eagle curiously.

"Where did you found him?If I know better eagles are rare to see as pandas nowadays."

"More like that he found us, I'm quite surprise at how eager he was to join us, I think there's some past he want to get rid off it. Not that I mind to know much anyway, that's his own business."

"Where your men will stay at?"

"Hum...I'll leave most part down a the village, few at the outskirts for patrolling and few at the Palace, if you don't mind."

"Humf," Was all that Shifu said. Clearly he disliked the idea of having such people nearby his students.

"Alright, then I'll let Ryskin and Paol at the Palace only, agreed?" Zach asked while raising an eyebrow. At this Shifu seemed more satisfied, at least he knew he could trust a bit more on those wolves.

"Very well, I'll show them where they'll sleep and about our routine. You can inform them already if you want."

"I will, but right now they're saying goodbye to the friends they lost. Despite being a group of warriors every renegade looks up for each other, it's like a big family. For most it's the first family and the only one they got."

"If that's all, I'll be returning to the Palace, I have a student to check," Master SHifu said while turning around to leave.

"Actually I need to know what you want me to do with the prisoners," Zach said in a morbid tone. Shifu stopped for a second while thinking hard.

"That's up to you, you can try to convince them about the wrong things Dai Lu Yan did and to who they're really royal or you can let them go and let them on their own out there."

"Sounds more likely to just let them go, if you want me to start little talking you'll have to find an expert on that for me, we don't have patience for such."

"Indeed, I think I know someone who can,"

Meanwhile...

"That's not true,"

Crane was feeling extremely weird. He was talking with Mei Ling trying to understand what happened with him, but everything she said seemed more like a dream tale than anything else. It was too much for him to believe that he was a legendary kung fu master and part of the greatest kung fu master on whole China. and even more that he left the Academy after being selected to be a student on Jade Palace, or that he even managed to enter the academy at all.

Mei Ling found out that Crane wasn't aware of even more than she feared. Apparently his most recent fresh memories was from one week before the trials, and that only mean that he lost all his kung fu knowledge

"It is, but there's no way I can prove it to you, you forgot way too much," She said trying to keep to bird calm. She knew Crane was scare to death with the situation. Imagine yourself reminding about the previous day before sleeping and them wakening up in a total different place twenty years later without even feeling any different.

"But...how?I'm too weak to join the academy, I mean...look at my legs!They're tinny and fragile."

"What?What you're talking about?I like your legs," Mei Ling said with a chuckle. Judging by Crane's look Mei Ling could tell how odd it was for him to hear such thing since the mountain cat didn't tried to remind them about their relationship, and that was a delicate part to deal with. "Hum...Huang..."

"Yeah?"

"I...forgot to tell you...but...we..."

"We...what?" Crane asked curiously.

"Hum...we're...kinda...a couple," Mei Ling said gripping her hands together at apprehension.

There was few seconds of silence.

"What?Are you joking?!Me and you?!" Crane's reaction was a bit different from what Mei Ling expected. "But I'm a bird!I mean...aren't you suppose to date people more like...you?"

"Crane, I choose you and I had a good reason for it, I know what I wanted and..."

"And you picked me cause I'm a harmless guy, isn't that right?" Crane retorted back with irony. The way the waterfowl was behaving was quite surprising. Mei Ling spent few minutes trying to understand why he would act like this. Then she realized that his shyness along his nervousness were generating a feeling of denial, the one that Crane has being so much afraid of getting from Mei Ling all those years.

"This is not going well."

**A/N: Alright, the conclusion of the battle. More details may be added on the re-edition. See you all at next chapter, have a great week!**


	39. Chapter 39

**A/N: Hi everyone, and here's the new chapter!I'll leave the messages for replies one next. Oh, since Rio 2 has been confirmed for next year I must warn you that in April I may drop only 2 updates on that month. I'll have to work with Charlie to update Rio archive after the release of the movie. Anyway to the chapter!**

"We have to talk Shifu, I want to know what would make the emperor's son go nuts," Zach said with extreme seriousness.

"We will talk about it, but not here. I'll make my way back to the Palace, if you want you can follow me," The red panda replied while walking through the several men working on the removal of the dead.

"Ok, I'll go with you, err...Hey!Yallin!Come here!" The wolf called his partner at distance that was making reports to deliver the messengers. Those messengers should inform the rest of the renegades on the most distant regions about the beginning of the offensive against the empire. Zach had no intent of fighting a full army without knowing he would have backup on its way.

"You need anything?" Asked Yallin after he reunited with Shifu and his commander.

"Yeah, come with me to the Palace, leave Helo on charge for now, Trigger will keep them busy also,"

"Alright, I hope we're not gonna turn into more endless talk again,"

"Ha, you wish."

Both wolves and Shifu returned to the Palace after few minutes. After the group got there they were receive by Tigress.

"Ah, Tigress," Shifu said smiling while looking at her."How's Crane doing?"

"He's out of danger, Master," The feline replied immediately."But..."

"But?" Shifu felt his smile disappearing and concern taking over him.

"You should see for yourself," She said. Tigress guided them towards the dorms where they met with Mei Ling at Crane's room. The waterfowl was still laying on the ground and apparently he wasn't feeling comfortable at all.

"Master Shifu," Mei Ling said standing up instantly.

"Are you alright?" Shifu asked while taking a quick look at Crane wondering what could be wrong.

"I'm ok, but Crane's kinda..." She tried to find the right words to explain it but couldn't.

"Who's the old man?" Crane asked while looking at Shifu with curiosity.

Shifu's eyes widened at the same moment while being shocked with what he heard, didn't took him long enough to figure it out. The wolves around him just stared waiting for the red panda to finish his meeting.

"This can't be..." Shifu said almost to himself."How much he forgot?" He asked straight to the mountain cat.

"Everything after few days before the trials," She said with sadness. Shifu sighed heavily.

"This was most unexpected, and it's troubling,"

"Master Shifu," Someone called on the outside of the room. The red panda turned around to see Fenghuang standing there looking at him. That totally surprised Shifu since she addressed towards him as master, something she haven't done for sixteen years.

"Fenghuang, anything to say you have?"

"Yes, but we need to talk in a more proper place, Mei Ling will watch over Crane for now," She said formally while moving away. Shifu shared a stare with Tigress that was still near him.

"I'll go with you, let's see what she might want, what about you two?" Tigress asked to the renegades.

"We have business to attend with Shifu as well. Maybe we can turn this into a reunion and share ideas and opinions," Zach replied after staring away from the cat and the crane. He was totally curious to know more about the avian since he heard from the panda that the crane was the one who saved Lord Shen.

"Very well,"

The group went after Fenghuang and reunited at the kitchen. They all took seats at the table and waited for the first one to speak.

"Ok, so who's first?" Yallin asked being annoyed by that hesitation.

"I''ll go first," Zach said quickly."Well, we got our group here Shifu. We won this battle, we lost many friends. I want to know what would make the emperor's son do something crazy like he did yesterday and put everything to lose and bring dishonor to the name of his family, and the whole empire. And how the hell he got those weird powerful weapons?"

"I can't tell you how he got those weapons," Shifu said while thinking carefully."But I have theories of why he's behaving like that,"

"Don't tell me he's a legalist," Yallin said being extremely terrified.

"Legalist?What the heck is that?" Zach asked being totally confused, Tigress was also curious to know.

"Well, how to explain that well?...legalism is a philosophy of ruling based on the idea that people are best controlled by fear. It promoted strict laws and harsh punishment, and encouraged people to report the wrong-doing of others. Legalism is based on a hierarchy and laws, in a mirror of Confucianism without the emphasis on moral behavior."

"Really?Anything else about that?"

"Yeah, well...there was seen to be a hierarchy not only of people, but of the entire Universe. Every person and organization was in an exact hierarchy. There were no parallel systems, no place or situation outside the hierarchy, so there was no "loyal opposition" or legitimate opposing point of view. Loyal ministers would sometimes try to tell the king if they felt his policy was bad, but they could be punished or even killed by the ruler for doing so. It was believe that the ruler himself could lose the "Mandate of Heaven" to rule the country, by bad judgment or carelessness, especially if he continued even after having been carefully remonstrated with by his advisers."

"Doesn't seem to work for the emperor, since the guy who went as opposition is his own son, if the emperor is also a legalist," Zach said frowning at the thought.

"Maybe, but the emperor it's not quite the nice guy you would like him to be, we all know that,"

"What?Are you telling me that Dai Lu Yan is aiming to take over the throne?" Shifu asked directly to Yallin.

"Most likely, and the way Dai Lu Yan do things on that way is a reason of great concern for all of us. The emperor is not a pretty flower but Dai Lu Yan is much worse than we would expect."

"Which means? Asked Tigress looking at Yallin.

"We have to kill him before he tries to take over his own father, it's not like the first time that something like that happens. Betrayal for the right of herding the throne has been really common on the last Dynasties. Only after the beginning of Tang Dynasty China really develop its full potential, mostly economic and military, the culture developed greatly, but then..."

"Then Wu Zetian brought that to a stop," Shifu said, his voice suddenly sounded dark and cold. Yallin nodded severely.

"Wu Zetian?" Tigress and Zach asked at same time.

"The first chinese empress, and one of the worst," Yallin said harshly.

"Also know as the mother of the Wu Sisters," Shifu said right after.

"WHAT?!"

"That's right, she was one of the most disgusted people this lands ever had the unpleasant time to see ruling them, whoever was the father nobody never knew, but that's because she probably killed him,"

"Woah, I didn't know that," Zach said being amazed. Tigress was also stunned by that info, then suddenly an idea came into her head.

"Master, it ever came into your mind to ask Mei Ling who was her mother?"

A sudden cold silence fell over the room after that question. The red panda seemed extremely tense.

"No, and I'm afraid I might not be interest on asking that to her any sooner,"

"Are you sure?"

"We trust her, she's not like the Wu, and we're not even sure yet if she's really blood related, leave that wonder for other time for now,"

'Tell me more about this Wu Zetian," Zach asked to Yallin, so many years together and the wolf knew so much more than he would ever expect.

"Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, becoming the only Chinese empress regnant to rule in her own right. Wu's rise to power was achieved through cruel and calculating tactics, popular conspiracy theory stated that she killed her first baby girl and blamed it on Gaozong's empress so that the empress would be demoted. That didn't work but then she found another ways to get her to the maximum power,"

"When she got the throne it brought a terrible stop to the development of the Tang Dynasty," Shifu said adding more info about the matter." There was a continuing problem with raids from the barbarians to the north and west. Some barbarian people moved in from north and assimilated into China. It is interesting that small numbers of northern barbarians traded with, and moved into, areas of China, and then adopted Chinese culture and way of life. Others, however, continued to attack cities and villages, which probably contributed to the increasing number of Han farmers moving to the south, along the Yangtze river."

"And the area along the Yellow River became quite deserted and almost turned into a battlefield," Yallin said with sadness." I used to live on the north, but the area was severely degraded by constants battles."

"How the Tang Dynasty started?" Asked Zach. Yallin chuckled.

"Again with the endless talk,"

"Shut up," Zach retorted.

"The Tang dynasty was in many ways an extension of the Sui Dynasty. China was extended up into Siberia and to the West. The imperial examination system was formalized. Young men underwent a written examination, based on the Confucian classics, to become members of the scholar-official class, the bureaucracy that ran China," Shifu resumed it the best way he could.

"Even so the Tibetian Empire is still a major treat to China nowadays. I still think it was a stupid idea to build Chor-Gom prison so near the frontier with the Tibetian territory," Yallin said shaking his head at the careless of the empire.

"The Tibetians won't make a move until China threatens them somehow," Shifu said without concern.

"Or while we get attacked by some other freaks out there," Yallin muttered. The red panda frowned at him.

"Are you all done?" Fenghuang asked rather impatiently. She was listening the whole time waiting for her turn to speak, even if their conversation was interesting at some points it had become irrelevant already.

"Yeah, for now," Yallin said with a snort.

"Finally. Master Shifu, I'm sure you're concerned about Crane's current state and would like to know how he'll develop from now on,"

"Uh?Oh yes of course," Shifu said quickly, he almost forgot about Crane after hearing so much alarming news.

"Well, I cannot tell exactly if he'll regain his memory, at least not without someone to persuade him to get the memories back. It can take a long time, and I'm afraid there's nothing else we can do about it,"

"I see..." Shifu was aware that this kind of problem wouldn't be settled by any medicinal methods or anything similar." So we'll have to wait, I believe Mei Ling is the best chance he got to get them back. I'll ask her to keep along with him all the time from now on, and instruct him to get into old habits somehow,"

"Okay, then after this I'll be leaving shortly, I have other unfinished things to do," She informed blatantly. Shifu seemed very surprise.

"I though you wanted to stay here,"

Fenghuang clearly wasn't expecting that kind of answer, she merely frowned while responding.

"I though I was not supposed to be trusted at all,"

"You helped Crane to heal, the fact he lost his memory is just an incident. I think you deserve another chance to make part of this place, only if you're dispose to live under old circumstances again,"

"You know that the rules against-" The owl started but the red panda interrupted her raising his hand.

"I changed that, and I might do more changes on the future, I admit that somethings I did were...unnatural and quite unfair for all of you."

The owl stood quietly while observing the red panda carefully looking for any sign that he could be lying, but she found none.

"If you say so...Master,"

**Meanwhile...**

"Hey!Civilians are not allowed near this area, I'll have to ask for you to leave sir," A renegade leopard said to the peacock standing nearby the captured and remaining cannon. The renegades moved the weapon to a strategic position for defense of the village.

"I'm not a mere civilian you fool, or do you think I'm look so much common?" Shen retorted with some anger. The leopard shrugged.

"I don't know, but even so you shouldn't be here,"

"Hey, what's going on here?" A voice called. Shen turned around to see Ryskin and Paol coming at him.

"Ahn, you two again, huh?Had enough fun?"

"You must be Shen," Ryskin said patiently, he knew a little about the peacock."Don't worry Urin, he's with us."

"Aye sir," Said the leopard returning to his post.

"What you doing here Shen?This cannon is being over watched."

"I know, I just came to see if they had done any changes on my creation,"

"What?You did that thing?" Paol asked in amazement. The peacock nodded.

"Hum, not bad at all, it's quite a weapon, do you think there's more?" Ryskin asked while looking better at the huge weapon.

"He, actually dozens more spread on different locations," Shen said with some disappointment." They were settled at specific spots for...military reason I should say."

"Military reasons?Yeah, right," Paol said sarcastically."Helo is asking to send a group to recover supplied, we're low due the long voyage to get here, he said It will take few hours to come back,"

"Fine for me, I don't feel like paying to buy food in here anyway," Ryskin replied with a chuckle."And tell him to recover some material to rebuilt the houses, we'll need that too. In fact, send Urin to inform him. We both need to return to the Palace quickly, The commander requested us to be there shortly, and don't forget to get your stuff.

"All settle, any idea of what he might want with us?" Paol asked his brother while moving around the cannon observing the details on the weapon.

"I dunno, maybe say we'll be thanked for the services and all that bullshit we all know?Probably," Ryskin said without much concern.

"Don't be like that, we did our jobs and we should be happy it made a lot of difference for the battle,"

"True to that,"

"I hope the other avian dude get's better, he seemed really nice."

Shen couldn't help but tense at this remark. He forgot about Crane being heavily injured up there. He would probably join those wolves on their path to the Palace.

"Huh, and how they found those cannons?" Ryskin wondered. Shen was ready to answer.

"At that you got me, the plans and their location were well hidden, only two people knew exactly were they were, one being me and the other..." Shen froze instantly, a sudden terrifying possibility coming into his mind.

"And the other?" Paol asked looking at the peacock.

"The other was...Shang,"

**Meanwhile... **

"No,no, no!This can't be right, I mean, what?!It's crazy!I must be dreaming or something, THIS CANT BE!"

Crane spent the last five minutes walking around his room making frenetic gestures while freaking out by everything Mei Ling told him about that happened on the last years, especially the last five months. Though the bird always seemed calm at his young age now he was developing in a way totally different.

"I'm telling the true, you know that. What would I lie to you?" Mei Ling retorted being disappointed by Crane's reaction. Crane laughed madly.

"I don't know!In fact, I don't know anything at all!I'm stupid, I'm weak!I'm just a humble janitor that was trying to live his own life after surviving all by himself cause his parents left him to die when he was a kid!"

Crane immediately shut it after that, he seemed to regret everything he said. Mei Ling stood at shock while looking at the avian. For the first time ever Crane talked about his family, and for the first time ever Mei Ling finally understood why the fought so hard to forget about his past and look up for something much better.

"Huang..." Mei Ling felt so sorry for the waterfowl, she wondered why he never talked about such before the memory loss. Crane was still upset for letting that out, he ignored the mountain cat focusing totally on the wall on the opposite direction.

The mountain cat finally could see how much painful and terrible Crane's life had been before and still was recently, it was impressive how the avian never lost his spirit and always looked up over things, he endured a lot more than much other people would have been able to and never complained about it.

"I don't now..." Crane said all of sudden while still staring away."...what I did wrong. Or they didn't want me?...I don't know..."

Mei Ling wasn't sure she would sustain hearing this, it was too much for her. A sudden knock at the door saved Mei Ling from sharing such pain. She rushed towards it to open it.

"Yes?" She said and felt the surprise take over her.

"It's good to see you again Mei Ling, it's Master Crane in there?"

It was the Soothsayer.

**A/N: Replies on nest chapter, have a great week!**


	40. Chapter 40

**A/N: Welcome back everyone!Sorry for not updating last weekend, I lost my job so I had to spent my time looking for a new one, and I did 's chapter...(checks list) 40!Yeah,wow, 40 chapters already(though I should be around 57 wasn't for certain delays...) Anyway to the replies!**

**Crown Prince of Horror;**

_*blushes* Err well, thanks :P Things were still too much focused around Crane and since on next chapters that will change a bit I knew it was time to open new paths._

**Unrealistic23;**

_They'll develop, don't worry._

**Shen's General;**

_Yeah, poor Crane, that's sad :(_

**BluTiger101;**

_I'm sure you will soon :)_

**Alpha tiger;**

_Thanks, yeah let's hope she can do something for Crane._

**TheHonorableTest;**

_Lol, thank you. :P_

**Charlie ;**

_Hehehehh, I knew you would like that Charles. :P_

**XdiAZ;**

_Hum...maybe not much :P_

**strange dude;**

_:P_

**Fan;**

_What?...ahn...what...yeah...a lot, lol :P_

**Anonymousrules;**

_Hhhehe, thank you._

**Unilever;**

_Probably we will._

**ShifuFanatic;**

_Thanks a lot!_

**Shooting Star;**

_Probably will. _

"You?But...how did you?..."

Mei Ling went speechless as the old goat entered the room looking around carefully, then she went towards the waterfowl that was still facing at other direction.

"Good morning Master Crane, how are you?" She asked gently. Crane turned his head around slowly to see who was it.

"Who are you?" He asked without delay. The Soothsayer raised an eyebrow.

"You don't remember me?" The goat was quite surprise. Mei Ling quickly came to explain the situation, she whispered what happened at the goat's ear. After a minute she slowly nodded with a saddened expression. "Well, that's quite terrible to hear about."

"Do you think there's anything we can do about it?" Mei Ling asked hoping for a positive response.

The Soothsayer stood facing Crane for few more seconds as if she was studing him, such intense observation was starting to bother Crane.

"There's nothing I can do," She said finally, her voice filled with sorrow.

For Mei Ling that was a big disappointment, for Crane it was even worse since he really wanted to get his memory back, all this situation he was in felt really disturbing and he didn't want to admit to Mei Ling he was afraid. Then the wolves that aided Crane and Fenghuang showed up at the door.

"Hey, how Crane's doing?" Asked Paol. His older brother was next to him, and also Shen. The peacock froze all of sudden when he saw the Soothsayer as if he saw a ghost.

"Hum...I think we have bad news about that," Mei Ling said nervously.

"What happened?" Ryskin eyed the avian with curiosity.

"Well, can we talk about it at the kitchen?Huang, are you hungry?" Mei Ling gently asked to the waterfowl. At this question he seemed to become less tense.

"Kind of...I'll go soon," Crane replied while checking the stuff in his room. Mei Ling walked away with the wolves behind her. Shen stood at the door waiting for the Soothsayer to come out, and so she did.

"It's so good to see you again Shen," She said while approaching of him closely. Shen assumed she wanted a hug, something he totally was not interested into.

"And so to see you too. I'm totally surprise to see you again, what you doing here?" The peacock questioned formally while keeping an eye to see for when Crane decided to leave the room.

"I came to know how you're doing, I've heard about some disturbance going on the Valley and I decided to come and check what was happening."

"Ahn, alright, and so-

"What's about you and the owl?" She asked abruptly. Shen blinked.

"Huh?What you talking about?"

"I was observing you briefly, do you have any deeper relationship with her?"

"Whoa, what?" Shen was totally frightened and confuse."I don't know what you talking about..."

The goat only chuckled at Shen's silliness. Despite of how glad she was to see much more healthy and much more sociable than ever, the goat felt sudden concern for the other avian that was still inside his room. Memory loss...that was the most tragic thing that could have happen aside of the avian dying. It would be a torture that he would have to endure for some time.

"Let's go get something to eat, shall we?" She said while knocking at Crane's door. "Master Crane, we'll be waiting for you at the kitchen, please don't take too long,"

The Soothsayer was being kind as possible while leaving with Shen near her and sharing their last experiences.

Inside the room Crane was clearly at doubt on going out or not. When she addressed him as 'master' it sounded totally weird. Everything Mei Ling told about that happened after he met her on that fateful day back at the academy seemed like a great story, but only one that he could have dreamed of. Having such life would never be possible by the kind of person he was.

With a frown he reminded of the moment he talked about his parents to Mei Ling, damn he wished he could erase that part from her memory. Nothing would make him more stressful than such subject. Crane made research at the things in the room that apparently belonged to him. The best clue he got was the letters that, someday, somehow he sent to the mountain cat telling about his life at the palace and adventures, and also her replies of joy and happiness. It was surprising of how she would write her answers with so much excitement judging the way she formed those rushed words.

How?How that could be possible?He was just a janitor few hours ago and now...a hero.

_'This can't be, I must be dreaming,' _

**Meanwhile... **

"Who are you?" Asked a voice with extreme harshness towards the stranger. The rhino raised his ax to stop him from passing through the gate. His colleague at the other side did the same. The stranger stopped on his tracks, impossible to know who he was due his large robe covering him completely.

"I'm here to deliver a message, don't get in my way," He retorted icily.

"No one gets into Chor-Gom Prison without a good reason, and I know you don't have one so get out!"

"Do not try to stop me, or you'll die," The stranger merely replied. The rhino slashed his ax towards him, but missed badly due the fact his target moved way much quicker."So be it,"

With a blindly move the stranger unleashed his sword across the rhino's neck killing him instantly. The other one panicked when saw his colleague dead and rushed inside for help.

"Well, let's get done with this quick," The stranger made a sign with his hand and soon several troops converged towards him," Kill all the guards, and don't take too long, it's cold here."

**Meanwhile... **

Po, Tigress, Mantis, Monkey and Viper were reunite at the Training Hall. The group was discussing the motion they all have been through and also what occurred with Crane.

"I still don't get it," Mantis said. "He's the son of the emperor, but that doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants."

"We're not really sure about why he came here do provoke chaos, and the fact that he's using Shen's cannons is even much more concerning, but I've been talking with Master Shifu and those renegades. They believe that Dai Lu Yan might be planning to take control of the empire," Tigress replied before delivering several blows at the hand-spikes that were slashing towards her.

"Against his own father?Why would he do such?" Viper questioned while observing the feline walking through the training course.

"Who knows...he must have his own reasons, whatever it is I don't like him anyway."

"How's Crane doing?" Po was observing Tigress with anxiety, he waited a long time to ask that.

"He could be better, but I'm afraid we can't count on him for the moment, not until he get his memories back," At that moment she was passing above the Jade Tortoise. Tigress didn't know how to handle with such situation. She never saw anyone suffer such before. It was hard for her and probably would be for the others to treat Crane like a stranger since it was how he would see them now.

"Then who-

_BOOOMM _

"What was that?!" Almost everyone yelled. The bang was heard all across the Valley. Before they could leave to hall to check the noise two renegades entered.

"Hey, there you are," It was Koslov and Ryskin. "Don't worry with the bang, the guys are doing a party down there and they're using the cannon to make it noisy. Typical."

"They're partying?What for?" Mantis was amazed.

"Uh, well, we already cleaned everything down there and our deaths were properly taken care of so...it's time to celebrate our victory, hopefully the first of many in this war."

"So you all are really throwing yourselves against the empire?" Po asked.

Koslov took a moment to answer to the panda. Apparently he had second thoughts about that.

"I'm not really sure if the empire is the main threat at the moment, I would say that our biggest concern is Dai Lu Yan. Also I was talking with my brother and we're lacking of strategists. We don't have anyone experienced enough to command troops in a battlefield since mostly we do our operations in small groups."

"Which explains your heavy casualties, despite of how skilled your warriors are," Tigress said. Ryskin nodded.

"Yep, any of you know of people with any acknowledge in strategic military?"

"Well," Monkey was thinking hard on that question." There's two I know but..."

"But what?" Ryskin asked being extremely curious about it.

"You see, one of them is Shen,"

"The peacock?Oh yeah, he had that army at Gongmen, he did a really good job with-

Ryskin suddenly shut it as he saw the stare Tigress was giving him.

"Err...an the other?" Monkey frowned.

"That would be Crane,"

"Argh, the guy who lost his memory?!" The renegade wolf seemed extremely frustrated. "Great, so we're screwed."

"Do you guys think Crane will get them back?" Po asked feeling extremely concerned about his best friend.

"Hopefully he will, otherwise...I don't know," Tigress was aware of how much of a terrible loss that would be for the group.

"How's Mei Ling dealing with that?" For Tigress surprise it was Viper who asked. The snake apparently was getting more used with the mountain cat around and accepted things the way they went.

"Humf, I don't know, she's not saying much. I'm sure she can talk with Crane just fine, it's just hard for her to go back on the set of good friends again. Wouldn't make sense for her to do it so since...well."

"Hey, if you guys want you can join our party and get to know everyone better, oh and...Helo will do guard duty here when he comes back, Ryskin can't since he has other things to do. See you all later," Koslov said turning around to leave with his brother.

"What about Fenghuang?Is she staying here?" Mantis and Monkey were at doubt with the owl being here.

"Master Shifu didn't say anything about it to us yet, but it's most likely she'll be allowed if she wants."

"Do you think we can trust her?I mean...suddenly we're taking inside a lot of people we wouldn't expect ever."

"Shen, lots of renegades, Fenghuang...I mean, who's next?"

"Well, as long they're dispose to do the right thing does it matter?" Po asked without thinking clearly about it. The others just stared at him oddly.

"It's not that simple Po, it's a matter of trust. You can just sit besides anyone just because you have the same objective." Tigress said censuring his opinion.

"Nobody was expecting Fenghuang to help us, wasn't for Crane, and nobody really believed that Shen could change, wasn't for Crane helping it so. And who would imagine the renegades would be nice at all?"

"No, but then most of all what's happening started with Crane's decision on helping Shen. I trust Crane deeply, but now we lost him and we're at the verge of a war. Trust will be an issue."

Po wanted to keep arguing but Tigress not. The feline start leaving the hall along with the others.

"Let's go down the village, we should check how things are going down there."

The group left but the panda had others ideas in mind. He went to the kitchen were he found the Soothsayer along with Shen, Fenghuang, Mei Ling and a big eagle that probably was part of the renegades.

"Hey Po!How are you?" Mei Ling asked gently when the panda entered.

"I'm good, thanks. What's going on?" He replied with curiosity while looking around. The mountain cat shrugged.

"We're just chatting. And you?"

"Yeah, I just came to eat something, you all want me to do something?"

At this Fenghuang raised an eyebrow.

"You know to cook?" She asked trying to not sound impressed.

"Yeah, I'm a chief, thanks to my dad."

"Your dad?" She asked again being even more astonished. Shen felt slightly uncomfortable.

"It's a long story," Po said while grabbing some ingredients."Hey, what's your name?" Po asked towards the eagle. He was incredible tall, it was a lot different from Crane, notably more muscles. Mei Ling was having a hard time to not look at him. Surprisingly the same could be told about Fenghuang.

"Huh?Oh, my name is Helo. Helo Kan Ni. You must be the Dragon Warrior. I've heard about you," Helo replied while studding the panda. The fact Po was a panda made Helo wonder at this choice of Dragon Warrior, and only made him a lot curious to know how he managed to defeat Tai Lung. "I'm still waiting for the others to introduce themselves thoug," He added.

At this everyone aside Po and the Soothsayer eavesdropped. The old goat was standing besides the panda who only noticed her there now.

"Hey old man, want some noodles?" Po asked without paying attention. Mei Ling and Shen face-palmed.

"It's a woman Po," Mei Ling said with a giggle. Po gasped.

"Oh!I'm so sorry, I didn't...wait, it's you!" He said recognizing the goat. The smiled.

"It's good to see you again Po, how have you been?"

"Oh, you know. Fighting bandits, assassins, kidnappers and awesomeness crazy stuff. The usual, and you?"

"The usual," She merely replied.

"Huh..." Po hesitated for a moment before returning to cooking.

"Hum...Helo," Mei Ling called timidly, the eagle stared at her with so much softness that made the cat blush furiously. "Err...I-I'm Mei Ling, i-it's nice to met you,"

"You're the girlfriend of the crane, aren't you?" He asked with some seriousness. She nodded." I hope he can recover well. I wish I had the opportunity of knowing him before what happened. I always wanted since young, he always have been my favorite of the Five. I can tell he did an excellent choice for life partner."

"Err..thanks, I hope he can-

The mountain cat stopped when she saw Crane at the door studying the scene.

"Favorite?Why favorite?" Crane asked not understanding the eagle. Helo tensed a bit.

"Hum...well, you are part of the Furious Five. They're the great heroes of China, the best kung fu warriors you can expect. I cannot put that in your head since you forgot about it, but you are a hero. You may do not believe in such Crane but there are thousands of people who know who you are, and at this moment it counts more what we know than you know."

It seemed a bit harsh, at least for Mei Ling, the way he pointed out that. Helo just went straight to the point, he would give sorry excuses to not make anyone uncomfortable. He was always honest.

Crane just stared blankly at him.

"I'm useless now then, what good can I do now?I don't know to do anything better than cleaning shores. I mean, look at you," Crane said pointing at the eagle's physic." You totally would make a better warrior than me, and you..."This time he directed towards Mei Ling. "How can you love someone like me?You're the best of the academy, you deserve a lot more than me,"

"Crane, stop," Mei Ling said getting incredibly upset with the avian. Everyone else just stared apprehensive. Helo was slowly regretting saying anything.

"You only pitted me because the way the others treated me, you would never like a pathetic excuse of bird like I am!" Crane said laughing nervously. He was losing his mind quickly. Mei Ling raised from her seat.

"Stop it!I never pitted you!I always have being kind, no matter with who!" Mei Ling cried infuriated. Crane just mocked.

"bullshit,"

_PAAFF _

The mountain cat slapped Crane so hard across the face making it echoes through the halls. Everyone was dumbfounded and shocked. The slap has being so harsh it almost Crane's neck snap.

The waterfowl was also at shock, and purely terrified. He felt the skin burning intensely where he got slapped. When he finally stared at the cat again he felt his hearth sunk when he saw the tears coming down her face.

"I though I knew the real Crane, but you changed along the years, but for the best. Before that you're just like the others." She said before leaving.

Deep silence filled the room.

Slowly everyone else start leaving the kitchen, mostly because they were not hungry anymore, but especially because it was better for Crane to be alone now. Po was going to stay but the Soothsayer drove him out. Helo was the last one to leave, before that he turned around to the Crane.

"I'm sorry, especially for you,"

Crane said nothing as he heard the eagle leave. It wasn't fair, he didn't know why life hated him so much. Yesterday he was just fine as a janitor, now he felt in hell and he didn't do anything to cause that. What would he do now?

His only option was to find a way to get his memories back. No matter how.

_No matter how. _

**A/n: Well, the end for this one, I'll try not to delay again *sigh* Have a nice week.**


	41. Chapter 41

**A/N: Okay, I'll have to talk a bit more deeply now...**

**Reviewers, you're totally what gives an author the boost he needs to overcome the difficulties and give him the confidence he needs to achieve his objective and know if he's doing the right thing. I may be writing this but wasn't for ALL of you I would never have got this far. All the purpose of this fic is mostly for the community, secondary to that would be to improve my skills as an author. **

**Forgotten Hope is being write for the archive, for the community, for you.**

**I do have in mind doing other stories, but I'll keep them for next year. To the replies!**

**Anonymousrules;****Unrealistic23;****ShootingStar;****TheHonorableTest;****Strangedude;****ShifuFanatic;****Unilever;****XdIAZ;****Bluewings;**

_Well, all your reviews were kinda the same so only fair to use the same response. People going that much under stress tend to lose control, it's not surprising if she did such, it's shocking the way she did of course, but that was the intention._

**Fan; **

_Wow, 3 times?!Omg. That sucks. :(_

**Shen's general; **

_Lol, how could I forget? :P I'm sorry for your stomach, I hope you still have enough left, lol._

**TheFarmer; **

_Yep, but it's because the CranexShen was mostly hurt/comfort/friendship. And I really want to give Fenghuang a more 'interesting' participation._

**BluTiger; **

_Lol, he is! :)_

**Crow Prince of Horror; **

_Depressing, huh?How so?The way it makes you feel bad for what's happening or just getting tired about things happening that way all the time?_

**JubJub007; **

_Ok, I got your Pm. I'm really thankful you clarified what you though about it. Don't worry, things between Crane and Mei Ling will get back to...well, let's say normal._

**Charlie ; **

_Hope you got my Pm about that review. And you're depressed too?I knew the ending was kind sad, but not that much. I'm surprised._

**Alpha Tiger; **

_You got it right! :P_

Mei Ling returned to her room flustered. The way Crane acted back in the kitchen totally shocked her and disappointed. Never she would imagine Crane could be like that, maybe because he never pass through really hard times at the academy, otherwise he would be very different from the first time she saw him.

She went straight for her bed hoping to sleep and rest a bit so that could make her cool down a bit. Suddenly she heard a cough behind her and turned around to see Master Shifu standing at the door.

"Mei Ling, I hope I'm not disturbing," he said politely.

"Of course not, Master Shifu," She said immediately. "Do you need anything?"

"I heard what happened at the kitchen, after all I have sensitive ears," He said in way that made Mei Ling believe he didn't want to listen if he had the option."I think there's something I need to tell you."

Mei Ling tilted her head to the side at curiosity.

"Really?About what?" Shifu slowly stared at the empty hall before speaking, it was obvious he wanted to talk about it privately.

"It's about Crane's parents,"

Mei Ling felt that this conversation wasn't going to be nice at all. Crane's parents was a subject that only Crane himself would be able or dispose to talk about, but even then the avian kept that off most he could, until recently events. The mountain cat slowly nodded for Shifu to proceed.

"I've been making some researches since we learned about Shen's activities at Gongmen City. The fact he used wolves to execute raids on small villages after metals was probably the reason of same activities we've been reported off on the last thirty-five years. Shen started working on his weapons way before we could imagine, he was still living at Gongmen with his parents when the project was initiate."

"Really?And his parents never suspected anything?" She said impressed at the young age Shen was working on such advanced weaponry. He was truly genius.

"I suppose not, and since he already had develop a 'friendship' with the wolves he managed to hide that very well, but then he still would need the metal even at that time, but not that much. Few months before his attack at Po's home village he went with some wolves to raid few houses and farms. Unfortunately he made fatal victims so he wouldn't get reported." Shifu's face became harsh. It was hard for him to forget the things Shen had done.

"And how Crane's parents related to this?" Mei Ling saw no possibility of that relation in this case. Shifu's expression saddened all of sudden.

"There's the thing...Crane ever talked about them?" The red panda asked.

"Well, not before losing his memory, but he let out by accident that they abandon him when he was a child."

"He believes it was that way cause they never came back home. But then...whey they left to travel to the nearest village that small village went under attack of Shen's wolves and Shen himself. They killed everyone to cover their tracks, including Crane's parents."

Deep silence fell over them as Mei Ling was absorbing that disturbing revelation. It was so much deal with that she felt a bit dizzy while trying to think.

"But...Master, if Shen did that...if Crane finds out-

"He can't!" Shifu said somewhat afraid and angry."If he does in the current state he is at, he mostly will go to kill Shen at sight. We have to wait he recover his memories then we might tell him." Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"Might?" Shifu sighed.

"I'm afraid I do not know what Crane would do if he finds out, even at the most calm and logic moment of behavior he's capable of. He might felt betrayed or regret instantly everything he did for the peacock. Or..." The red panda paused.

"Or what?" Mei Ling said with concern.

"He might still want revenge, or the worst case scenario."

**Meanwhile... **

Crane was walking through the halls of the temple, his mind lost in thoughts while he forced himself to remember anything past the academy. Maybe he could wasn't for the panda that insisted on going along with him.

"..but then it was only obvious that I couldn't!That's when I threw that piece of armor at him and..." Po was saying all along. Crane assumed it was some kind of exciting story of combat or whatever.

The waterfowl wasn't really paying attention. He couldn't get of his mind the way Mei Ling stared at him. It was obvious he hurt her feelings, but why that was bringing so much pain inside of him?He barely knew her.

"So?How was like to be a janitor?"

That question brought Crane back to reality.

"What?" The waterfowl asked not understanding quickly enough.

"I was asking how was like to be a janitor, was it cool?" Po asked again curiously. Crane raised an eyebrow. When exactly being a janitor was _cool_?

"Huh, it was ok, I guess...but why you're so interested about it?You're a warrior aren't you?Something like that shouldn't be interesting at all for someone like you," Crane retorted back with suspicious. Po chuckled.

"Yeah, but I was just like you a year ago, just working with my dad at the Noodle Shop, but the way we were at those defined who we are now, I'm sure you didn't mean all those thing you said to Mei Ling. I know you were the nice guy she always looked for. You just let go off yourself a bit."

"You think so?" Crane was amaze of how much optimistic this panda was.

"Of course, I can tell you you're just the same before losing memories, just need to chill out a bit more," Po said smiling sympathetically at him.

"Po, do you know any way that can help me to recover my memories, I'm seriously tired of going through all this mess. I'm not sure if I can handle much of it for any longer," Crane's request was somewhat desperate. Po shrugged.

"Sorry man, I do not know. Maybe you need some kind of mystical power or something to help you with that, you hit your head really hard after all."

Crane stopped in his track all of sudden. Po took few seconds to realize the waterfowl wasn't besides him any longer.

"Do you think that...if that hit cause memory loss...another one could restore it?"

Even for Po's patterns that really seemed a stupid idea. The panda eavesdropped.

"Hey no offense but...you nearly died because of that, and you're still carrying bandages on your head, another hit probably would make things way worse," Po said while scratching the back of his head nervously. Crane sighed.

"Po, I know that...I would never considerate such if I wasn't so desperate. I have no others ideas, no one has. I can't just wait!I can't!" The avian stomped his foot on the ground hard at anger. Po was truly concerned.

"That can kill you Crane, I don't want that to happen," Po said hoping he could calm down the avian.

"I can't live like this Po!If everything you all said was true I had a great life before this incident!Wouldn't be worthy to risk dying to have it back?!It's not like I can start all those fifteen years all over again!"

Po flinched at Crane's screams. He couldn't deny the avian's reasons, but then risking him to die wasn't something he was willing to do so, at least not by his own.

"Okay, okay. Listen, if you wanna do that you had to convince Mei Ling to agree with it," Po said with some seriousness. Crane froze at shock.

"What?!Why?!"

"Cause she's your girlfriend and I wouldn't feel any good if I killed you trying to do such without she even knowing you would be trying such crazy idea. She deserves to know you're risking yourself like that or the shock of your death might kill her as well. You don't want that, do you?"

Crane hated to admit but the panda was incredible right, least he could do was tell Mei Ling. Would she be willing to listen to him after what he did at the kitchen?

"Let's go back to the dorms, she might be there," Po said waiting for the avian to follow him.

**Meanwhile... **

Fire, debris, smoke and dust. That was mostly the scene inside Chorm-Gom prison. The imperial having invade the place destroy everything they could, though a harsh combat with the several guards was necessary to secure the area for their leader. The guard fought with honor until their deaths managing to kill a good number of imperial troops. A hooded figure was escort to the lower levels of the prison. Several death laying on the different floors, either imperial or guard.

_"An acceptable loss," _The hooded man though while thinking about the imperial troops he lost at the area. His real objective being nearly completed. After what seemed a eternity of traveling to the underground he reached to the cell he should.

"This is their cell, sir," Informed one of the soldiers that escorted him.

"Very well, you all can leave. I can handle myself," The hooded man said severely. The men nodded and left him. He saw three pairs of glowing eyes inside the cell, another person would have been terrify by such sinister scene.

"So, I believe you must be the Wu Sisters," The hooded figure said. The eyes moved around the cell, on that being visible due the darkness. The bars of the cell being so robust that sometimes the eyes would disappear for a brief second.

"And who are you?" One of them said. Her voice incredibly cold and emotionless.

"Who I am doesn't matter, all what matters it's Dai Lu Yan, the future emperor of this land," He replied. The Wu laughed madly.

"We don't care about imperial at all, we have our own things to care about,"

"It's hard to care about things while being locked in a cell," The hooded man replied with a hint of sarcasm, the Wu only hissed angrily. "Dai Lu Yan offers your liberty in exchange of small services."

That new surely surprised the Wu.

"What kind of emperor would need of us?It's unlikely," Another Wu said with suspicious.

"The new emperor is more open for different options of ruling and controlling than any other would be, and he can be kind whenever he wants, this time his kindness is being offer towards your group,"

A minute of silence pass. The hooded man awaited to hear their decision.

"What he wants from us?"

"A task, a single one but not easy at all. Kill the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior and whoever gets in the way."

"As if we haven't tried yet," Another Wu spoke with mockery.

"As usual anyone needs more than one reason or a good one for doing it so," The hooded man said. "I believe the name Mei Ling may be fitting,"

The Wu instantly hissed at fury.

"Mei Ling?!Where?" It was all one of the Wu said.

"Valley of Peace...I can understand you agree with the offer?"

"Open the cell, we will do with most pleasure."

**Meanwhile... **

Shen was outside at his usual spot. He forgot about the days he would come here so Crane would stop annoying him, it was incredible that it was just few weeks ago, now he felt like it's been years. Honestly Shen believed his spot wasn't that much of a one to hide, considering how fast Fenghuang found him.

"There you are," She said while closing on him after landing." I though you would be back on your room, you never seemed much of the kind to be walking around."

"I never was, at least not for now," Shen replied. He felt uneasy when the owl took a place besides him."This place always seemed so beautiful, I missed a lot to watch the beauty of it from the top of the mountain,"

It was so weird for Shen the way she said all that with so much softness, especially for someone that was eager to kill few hours ago. Now the peacock was surprise with himself because he did the same not much time ago.

"It is," The peacock said agreeing with her words. He felt sharps of pain where he have being hit before the Rhino deciding to execute him. Never he thought he would pass through another near-death experience so quickly. It was agonizing, he couldn't believe those Furious Five have been through such so many times without losing their minds.

"Are you worried about Crane?" She asked noticing the concern on Shen's face.

"I am, I can't lie about that. Are you too?" The peacock replied looking back at her.

"_*sigh* _Crane reminds a bit of my past, but things seemed to take a better course for him than it did for me, he's lucky."

"Nothing says you can't have a good course again," Shen said not really paying attention on what the said. Fenghuang smiled.

"Indeed...nothing,"

Shen felt a light pressure on his right wing, he looking down cautiously to discover she had placed her own above his. At that moment it was hard to tell what was more red. Shen's eyes or face.

**Meanwhile... **

"Imperial troops are two days out, we got men coming from Ching-Yan and Zhengzhou, they'll be gathering at the Thread of Hope,"

The renegades were working on the defense of the Valley outskirts and nearby regions. Another Imperial division was already on the way for the Valley, the problem was that this one was from the emperor itself, not commanded by Dai Lu Yan.

"Do we have any detachment to gather supplies?We need them urgent," Zach asked to his sub-commander.

"I'm aware of that, we'll have them reaching the Valley tomorrow," Yallin replied while mixing scrolls and painting with terrain details." I've set guard positions on each hill and we got every river under our control. We'll need more resources to set barricades along the roads. I'm aware of the traffic and commercial that is very intense in this region, but I'm informing we're doing inspections to make sure everything is safe,"

"Very good, I think once those imperial arrive we can dispose our prisoners to them, they didn't have any good info about Dai Lu Yan or anything else, they were just following orders blindly as usual," Zach took a sit near the desk with a tired expression."I'll take a sleep, haven't one for days."

"Most of us didn't, once the new detachments arrives I'll make shifts so we can recover properly, any news about our men at the Palace?" Yallin asked looking at the hybrid fox.

"Nope, Helo is the one on charge to send me reports. Ryskin is taking care of the southern area, he left his young brother to take charge on the security up there."

"Those warriors need security?I think it's a waste to dispose of our guys for that, they can handle themselves. It's not like someone would be able to sneak around up there with so many of us watching down here," Yallin was, again, showing his displease with renegades doing unnecessary duties just because Zach was worry with his own personal reasons.

"You know I have my own reasons, I know you do not like it but it won't change my mind, we still need someone to take charge on the tactic schemes, I'm hoping anyone up there is capable of such,"

"You really believe they want to take part in this war?If I was one of them I wouldn't see any reasons to do such," Yallin said while recovering the scrolls to leave.

"Well, with Dai Lu Yan out there doing such things...it's not like anyone has other option.

** Meanwhile... **

Paol was along with Helo and the rest of the Furious Five. The group was getting to know each other. Mostly the Five that were curious about the renegades. All of them seemed to like Helo instantly, maybe because he was the most charismatic type. Paol seemed to be the kind of guy Crane would recognize as himself. After minutes of endless talk and moments of jokes and laughs the group slowly disbanded since Helo would need to return and the Five would go for their last training session of the day.

Paol was thinking on checking Crane again until he got brought back to reality by Tigress.

"Can I talk with you for a moment?" She asked formally. Paol nodded."Appears to be you renegades are nice people after all, what I cannot understand it's that the first time we saw your group we were receive under so much hostility."

"I heard about that," Paol said reminding of what Mantis told him early at the morning."The thing is that few years ago our leader was of a different kind, and the way he conducted our group was most discussed about. It was Zach who replaced him after we all agreed on a change. We came to do things different, but we never intended people to fear us, we should be a reason of giving people hope, not fear. Unfortunately the old leader started the wrong way."

"So that's why," Tigress said finally understanding the difference. "And what happened with the old one?"

"I cannot tell, it's a secret among the renegades," Paol said in a tone of excuse.

"Alright, you're going to see Crane?" She asked. It surprised the wolf she knew.

"Yeah, I was going to ask my brother if anyone he knows has any idea of restoring memories. Not that is such a normal procedure anyway."

"In Crane's case I think only time can respond to that answer,"

"Yeah, but for Crane time it's the only issue." Tigress frowned.

"What that means?"

"What if Crane's thinks the same way?" Paol wondered.

"And that would mean?"

"If he's crazy enough, he might do something foolish to change things back fast as possible. People can lose their memories but also can lose their minds due such. They'll never be the same."

**Meanwhile... **

"Crane, take it easy man!" Po yelled. Crane was struggling against Po's grip. The panda suddenly panicked when he saw Crane banging his head against a pillar. Thankfully the bandage was still on place and the wound didn't re-open.

"Let go off me!I refuse to keep like this," Crane tried his hardest to get Po off him, but without kung fu he was easy to deal with.

"No, you'll have to wait!I won't let you do anything till you set things right with Mei Ling, now let's go," Po was determinate to drag Crane to the dorms if necessary, and it was necessary. Crane was trying to scratch Po with his talons and beak. Po saw no choice and paralyzed Crane with his fingers at precise spots. The avian froze like at statue. "Sorry bud, now you'll have to keep like that till we get there."

_"I swear I'll repay the favor panda"_ Crane thought with all the hate he could gather.

**A/N: And there goes another chapter, have a great week! :) **


	42. Chapter 42

**A/N: Okay, sorry for another delay people. For some reason last weekend there was a major blackout with internet in the area I live so I couldn't get online for the whole weekend. But here I am. Enjoy. Replies for reviews will come on next chapter.**

Po dragged a paralyzed Crane to his room without much effort, after arriving there he met with Mei Ling. The mountain cat was surprise to see him and noticed how strange Crane seemed.

"Po?What you doing here?What's wrong with Huang?" She asked immediately coming next to them. The panda released Crane carefully on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I had to paralyze him, he was losing out back there," Po tried to explain while pressurizing the waterfowl with his fingers so he could move again.

"Damn you, don't do this again!" Crane complained immediately after he finally managed to move again.

"What exactly were you trying to do Huang?" Mei Ling asked to the avian, but Crane wasn't willing to answer. Mei Ling caught her staff and pointed it menacingly towards the avian."So...are you going to tell me or not?"

Crane seemed unsure and nervous now.

"If I don't...you're going to hurt me?" Crane asked. That question caught Mei Ling off guard. Her mouth opened but no words came out.

"Crane, relax man, we just want to help you, you should trust us a bit more," Po said attempting to lighten the situation.

But Crane ignored his words. The avian was more concerned about Mei Ling at the moment. The mountain cat felt her insides burning of agony. This situation was ridiculous, why this all was happening to her?She wasn't sure she could sustain staying with Crane in the condition he was.

"I was wondering if I could get my memory back by hitting my head hard again," Crane confessed, much for her surprise. Mei Ling's eyes went wide. Hitting his head again?Was he crazy?

Mei Ling stared at Crane's bandage covering his head, he barely survived that wound, doing such would likely kill him. But then...what other option he had?

"It's that so?...ok, turn around," The cat said sounding very sinister. Crane got extremely nervous now.

"Why?" He asked.

"Now."

Slowly the waterfowl did that while keeping his eyes on her the longest he could, after feeling his neck hurting he had to face the other way.

"What exactly do you...-

_WHACK _

Mei Ling delivered a powerful blow with her staff at the avian knocking him out of conscious after a major hit on the back of his head. Po totally freak out with that.

"Mei Ling!Why did you do that?!Are you nuts!?" He exclaimed while checking on Crane. Surprisingly the wound didn't er-open but the avian was clearly knocked out for good. The panda stared back at the cat and he felt his heart sink when he saw that she was crying.

"I'm sorry,"

For who that sorry was it was hard to tell at the moment. Po slowly carried Crane to Ling's room placing him over her bed.

"I'll go back and see the others, will you take care of him?" The mountain cat nodded without looking at him. "Alright, thanks...I..."

Po wanted to say something to comfort her but nothing really came into mind. He left without any more words while Mei Ling sit next to the waterfowl.

"I hope this works Huang, if not..."

**Meanwhile... **

"Captain!Urgent message from the North!"

The sudden scream outside the barrack alarmed both Zach and Yallin, the two have been discussing more tactics before the night to arrive. The fox raised from his seat immediately only to met with one of his men outside.

"Sung?Why we would receive a message from the North?We don't have any occurrence there since twelve years ago."

"It's something about the Chro-Gom prison sir, it seems it was something really serious, our reporters said they lost two men to get aware of what was happening there, only one managed to escape."

Zach's expression darkened. Fear and concern the most evident on him.

"Alright, thanks Sung, you can take a rest for now," The fox retrieved the message and returned inside. Yallin was there waiting with an expression of pure curiosity. "Let's see what happened.

Zach opened the scroll and took a read of it. After a minute while Yallin observed his friend he noticed how much Zach became petrified.

"What does it say?"

The fox took a moment to reply.

"Apparently...Dai Lu Yan still have plans for us, get the alert on our men. We'll have company soon, and not the most pleasant one."

**Meanwhile...**

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for this Nana," Shen said timidly to the Soothsayer. He barely returned from his encounter with the Owl, it was clear that such had a great impact on him. For the first time ever Shen was on the position of taking a serious relationship with a women. It was a very unique experience he never though he would be facing.

"Oh Shen, you're just getting old, not younger. It's time for you to take decisions that will set your life for once, there's no why to keep delaying that. If that women feels something towards you then you should consider yourself extremely lucky," The old goat replied with a chuckle. She was happy to see how much the peacock improved on those last months, she could tell Crane managed to change something in the peacock that she couldn't.

"You really think so?That I should go along with that?" Shen questioned with wide eyes.

"As long as you feel the same way,"

The peacock sighed. He knew that the old goat was already aware of his feelings towards the owl, but due the fact that Fenghuang and him barely met each other few weeks ago and both were mortal enemies of the Five he had doubts about this being a good idea.

"Love is emotional, not pure logic Shen. You do because you love, not because it's right. If you have more doubts you can always ask to Mei Ling about such, she's in a relationship after all. She's your friend and would be happy to help you."

Shen couldn't help but laugh a bit. It was weird to do such, but also it was a really good idea.

"I'll do it then, thanks Nana."

**Meanwhile...**

A sudden knock at the door alarmed Mei Ling. She was so distracted looking at Crane still laying unconscious that she lost the sense of time.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Paol. It's Crane there?" The renegade asked while waiting at Ling's door.

"Yeah, but he's sleeping now," She said not very loudly.

"Oh, ok...well, when he wakes up can you inform me?I need to talk with him,"

"I'll do it," Mei Ling said sadly.

"Ok, thanks Mei Ling, see you later."

The mountain cat heard the soft footsteps of the renegade that was leaving. She wondered what the wolf would want to talk about. After few minutes there was pure silence. She felt a movement near her and stared to see Crane slowly moving his head from one side to another. Then suddenly she heard clanking of metal. That scared her a bit while wondering what could do such noise. The metal sounds just became louder until they stop apparently at the door.

"Mei Ling?You there?"

It was Shen. The cat sighed relieved and felt the temptation to laugh at her own silliness. She forgot Shen was still using those metal claws.

"Shen?You want to talk with Crane?"

"No, I want to talk with you," He answered. The mountain cat raised an eyebrow. That was interesting.

She went to open the door for the peacock. She noticed how strange he seemed, as if he was about to commit some kind of forbidden ritual.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," He said when saw that Crane was laying on her bed. Mei Ling chuckled nervously.

"Not really, he's just sleeping."

"Oh, so...may I come in?"

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?It's the first time ever you want to talk with me only," She said while letting the peacock pass and closing the door behind him.

"It is, and what I'm about to discuss here cannot leave this room, do you understand?" Shen replied with extreme severity. Mei Ling was a bit surprise by that.

"Of course, I won't say anything."

"Alright, the thing is...I...want to talk about...relationships,"

It was amazing how Shen's face could distort so hard just by the agony of saying such, which made clear he would never talk about it if he had any option.

Mei Ling was totally amazed by what she heard but also slightly curious.

"What about it?" She asked while sitting back on the bed with Crane asleep. Shen was fighting against his own natural will to keep this conversation. It was no easy task.

"I...I need advice,"

The mountain cat felt the huge temptation to laugh hysterically, but since that would upset Shen A LOT she decided not hold the best or longer she could.

"Oh, uh...advice...he, umm...about?" She said trying to calm herself down. Shen noticed how happy the mountain cat was.

"It's serious stuff, don't make funny on me," he said getting annoyed.

"I'm trying not to, I swear. You can't blame me since this is unexpected," She said defensively.

"Well, the thing is-

"EVERYBODY TO THE HALL OF HEROES IMMEDIATELY!"

The scream came from the entrance but it was so loud that seemed someone screamed on their ears. Shen and Mei Ling jumped frightened by the scream, Crane kept the same still sleeping.

"What's now?" Mei Ling asked with a groan.

**Meanwhile... **

Mantis, Po, Viper, Monkey, Tigress, Paol, Helo and Master Shifu were already at the Hall of Heroes. Mei Ling and Shen went there two minutes later. Surprisingly Zach was there too.

"What's going on for people start screaming like mad man around?" Helo asked with some irritation. He was sleeping a bit after what seemed weeks and they managed to take that out of him out of the blue, he didn't appreciate it at all.

"Wrong things are going on, that's what," Zach replied even more irritably. Helo normally wouldn't get upset, but when such happens it was necessary to get over with the way he acted.

"Where's Crane?" Master Shifu asked noticing the avian was absent.

"He got a sudden head shake and decided to take nap Master," Po informed quickly much to Mei Ling's surprise. The panda was undoubtedly of trust and also really funny sometimes.

"Ok, what's wrong, why you called all of us?" Tigress asked so they can finally go direct to the point.

"I barely received a message from North regions, which is unusual since nothing goes wrong there since a long time ago, but then...there's where Chor-Gom prison is located."

Everyone suddenly tensed at this remark. Shifu was the first to speak after a minute of silence.

"I believe we had an incident there," The red panda wondered. Zach nodded.

"At least they made look like it was an 'incident', but it wasn't. The prison was attack by imperial troops."

"Dai Lu Yan," Most of them said instantly. The renegade fox nodded.

"Well, from what we could find out they killed all the guard, almost every prisoner. Not that they will be really missed about but...and the most curious of all, they released three specific prisoners which I'll let you to try to figure it out who they may be."

"Those three prisoners were in the same cell?" Tigress asked while looking at the floor thoughtfully.

"Yes."

"Let me guess..." Mei Ling said while frowning hard. "...Wu Sisters."

"You got it right," Zach said with a sigh. Po, Tigress and Shifu eyed the mountain cat carefully. It was clear that the Wu Sister would cause a personal impact on her behavior, and it was becoming clear of how much she would despite the group.

"Why they would do that?" Mantis asked while absorbing the information with difficult. Wu Sisters on the loose again was the worst thing they would never want asides dealing with Tai Lung again.

"My best guess is that Dai Lu Yan, with the lunatic thoughts he has, decided to use the Wu Sisters to counter-attack on us, or more precisely, on the Furious Five. He probably offered a good reward."

"No, the Wu never really aimed for money, but only for personal business," Tigress said sternly."There must be a greater reason for them to risk coming here with the Valley under so much protection.

After saying that Tigress stared directly at Mei Ling. Everyone took notice of that and did the same. Mei Ling was taken aback by everyone looking at her.

"What?!"

"Why they want you so much?" Tigress asked.

"I don't know," Mei Ling said playing silly.

"You can't fool us Ling, tell the truth, what's on your past hat would make the Wu hate you?"

With so many blaming stares she was receiving the mountain cat realized she couldn't keep that a secret for longer.

"I...it's a long story,"

"We have time," Master Shifu said gently. Mei Ling winced.

"When I was back at the academy as a student I received the task of tracking down the criminality on the area. The constant crimes happening there were causing much disturbance for people to keep living without worry. Whoever was committing those crimes would never let a clue that could sell them out. After I was select for the task I went through three difficult months to solve it. I was ready to give up when I received a visit from one of my blood related sisters, Su Wu."

"Su Wu, the most dangerous and sinister of the group," Master Shifu said while frowning. Mei Ling nodded.

"She tried to convince me to join them, she always had a talent to persuade people to do what she wanted, though for me that was not the case. I refused and that upset her, them she let out that she was responsible for the crimes along with Wing and Wan Wu. After she left making several menaces I had no choice but report them to my master. Took almost a week for us to chase them out of the region, but after that everything got a lot better. Of course that they see me as a traitor of blood. Their deepest desire has always been to kill me, but after their defeat by Masters Rhino, Croc and Ox they didn't have much time to think about it, their brief escapes from prison didn't allow them to track after me. Of course after our battle together at Wu Dan they're probably filled with even more hate towards me since I took them by surprise while they were fighting against the Five."

"I truly believe that's a good reason, but them you're blood related to them, aren't you?" Shifu asked hoping they could finally confirm that. Mei Ling sighed sadly.

"Yes, I'm Wu Mei, of course I prefer to keep the name of my real family, Ling."

Few of them were a bit surprise by that, while others were relieved that they finally were told the truth.

"You're a Wu Sister?" Someone asked. They al turned around to see Crane standing at the door with a shocked expression. Mei Ling's expression became morbid.

"Huang, I..."

"Why you never told me about it?" Crane said with deep disappointment. Mei Ling blinked on confusion.

"What?"

"Can someone tell me what's going on?I thought we were in a battle!What happened?" He said again walking towards them. Before he could get any further he was push aback by Mei Ling's harsh and tight embrace on him.

"You're back!" She said with extreme happiness. The poor waterfowl was totally confused.

"Hey, it worked!" Po said loudly at surprise. Shifu stared directly at him.

"What worked?" The red panda asked while raising an eyebrow. Po eavesdropped.

"Busted."

Every one of the Five went to hug the avian, even Tigress. Wait...what?!

"Tigress?!What?!Guys?Ling?This is awkward...seriously, stop. What happened?"

"It's a long story, we'll tell about it later, now come on," Mei Ling said dragging Crane out of them group and leaving quickly with the avian thinking everyone went nuts.

"I'm glad your comrade is back to normal, this could prove useful for us as well," Zach said after he ended his private talk with Helo and Paol, what the three were talking about nobody figure it out.

"So you believe the Wu will be on this way of the Valley?" Master Shifu said returning the conversation about the Wu.

"Indeed, I already put everyone on the alert, I reduced the area to be guarded so we can compacted ourselves more and watch every corner, thought I heard those Wu's can hide even in bowls if they want."

"We'll do our own guard up here too, we'll make sure they don't get whatever they want," Po said enthusiastically, he couldn't deny that facing the legendary Wu Sister was giving him chills on the spine.

"We know what they want Po, we just have to make sure they don't get any closer to Mei Ling. Or whoever else next to her," Master Shifu said with severity.

"Do they know Mei Ling is with Crane?" Mantis asked to Master Shifu.

"That would only make them more eager to commit their plans against her. And if they can use Crane to make her suffer, they will. We cannot let that happen. I need you two to make sure none of the two leave the Palace."

"We'll take care of it, Master, don't worry about the Wu," Po said confidently.

"It's not the Wu I'm worried about,"

**A/N: Sooo sorry for the delay, but there ya go, I'll try to make the next chapter larger to compensate a bit. I'll need it since there's A LOT to be discovered. :p Have a nice week!**


	43. Chapter 43

**A/N: Hey everyone!It's good to be back!Alright, I'll try to make this chapter a bit more decent since last one was to 'relieve' some people out of their 'stress'. Anyway, I was talking with Charlie and, miraculously, he's getting into the idea of writing a fic after so many years of Fanfiction(Aleluia!) but then it's obviously about All Dogs Go To Heaven. We've made a research on that archive and...honestly there's no great story there. **

**It's more a start zone for new writers to improve, but nobody really inspired and creative went there to make something magic about it, which is a shame. Thankfully Charlie is the right person for that, and of course, he asked for aid on certain areas of it. Which means I'll be working on two stories. Don't worry, I won't delay any chapter because of that(I hope), but I wonder if I'll be able to not mix styles while doing such. I also really wanna see a good story for All Dogs Go To Heaven, it's been a long time since I've talked about the franchise, I just love it, but sadly it's forgotten nowadays and that sucks.**

**I'm truly excited to work in this project, Charlie haven't decided yet who'll publish, but most likely it will be me :P Since he wants to keep his account 'clean'. The project and plot will totally belong to him. If anyone else is interest on working in it you can pm and I'll pass it to Charlie, it's not gonna work much to pm straight to him since he doesn't log much anymore.**

**Of course I still own you the answers for the replies, so here we go!By the way he didn't say when he will publish it so I'll let that for a future chapter a/n. **

**Synchronized Harmony; **

_Hum, I own you three answers for your reviews, It's soooo good to see you again!:) Hum...I'm not sure if I understood the 'well'. Where you expecting something different?_

**Alpha tiger;**

_Thank you, and yeah, the Wu Sisters will be a real pain._

**Phoenix Oblivion;  
><strong>

_First I wanna welcome you to the fic and I wanna thank you for sharing your opinion, and I'm glad you love the pairing!:) You're welcome!_

**Shen's General;**

_Yes they are. We haven't talked with each other for a while, I dunno why. Would be nice to get back on comms soon._

**Charlie ;**

_Totally right, it's not Kung Fu Panda without Kung Fu is it? :P_

**Awesome story;**

_?Errr...AMEM. :P_

**JubJub007;  
><strong>

_You're welcome. :P_

**Crown Prince of Horror;**

_Couldn't make that last too long, and now things will get very interesting indeed._

Relieve. That's what Mei Ling felt after Crane came back to normal by rather dangerous methods. She never really expected that it would work so simply, but then what other choice she had?Of course she knew it was her obligation to inform the waterfowl of everything that happened after the incident.

"Wait, wait, wait...I said what?!" Crane asked while in shock. Mei Ling just told about the way he was behaving during the memory loss. Crane never though he would be so much different due that cause. The mountain cat seemed extremely anxious on ending the explanations, the reason was obvious for Crane.

"Also...there's something I need to tell you Huang, despite what Shifu thinks about being a bad idea,"

This totally got Crane curious about, then he noticed how much that saddened the mountain cat. Crane felt anxiety, did someone they knew died during the battle?

"What is it?" The waterfowl asked carefully wondering how much bad those news would be. Mei Ling was clearly tense.

"It's about...you parents,"

Crane instantly became rigid, just the mention of his parents was enough to make him annoyed. The waterfowl tried to show that he was relaxed about the subject, but deep inside he felt intense anger. Mei Ling didn't got fooled by Crane's faked act.

"I know you have your regards about that Jien, but also if you only knew the truth..."

"Truth?What truth?" At this the avian was suspicious, what could they know that he never didn't?

"Please, please!Promise me you won't get mad," The way she begged it made Crane chuckle nervously.

"Alright, what is it?"

**Meanwhile...**

"Well, now that Crane is back to normal I think we can talk about those strategies of yours," Helo said while looking at Trigger. The hawk had been called to go up to the palace for a meeting. Apparently they were setting for their counter-attack against Dai Lu Yan's army. Also there was the fact that one imperial convoy would reach the Valley in few hours and they had no way to fight against them if necessary, every leader of the renegades was tense and worried, they knew that fight was inevitable. Master Shifu suggested something the renegades didn't like a bit. To join to the emperor's forces as temporary allies to fight against Dai Lu Yan. It wasn't necessary to say that Zach got really upset and said he preferred to die than help the empire somehow.

The discussion ended in a matter of minutes, Master Shifu would deal with the convoy while the renegades would try to cover their presence in the Valley.

"If this avian you talk about is so smart and experienced then you won't need me to do the hard work," Trigger replied with annoyance. The hawk always proud himself of being smart and strong, but seems everyone talked about this Crane as if he was the greatest avian in the world. Trigger had his own doubts.

"Don't worry, at least he's not hot head like you most times," Helo replied with a chuckle making Trigger upset.

_"HE DID WHAT?!" _

A sudden scream echoed through the halls of the temple and outside to the peaceful gardens. Everyone on the palace heard it and those who were close enough recognized it as Crane.

"What happened?Why Crane is screaming now?" Mantis asked with a puzzled look on his face while staring to the walls of the kitchen. Along with him were the rest of the Five, Po, and Shen. Fenghuang was missing for some time. After few minutes they heard flapping sounds becoming louder on the hall. Everyone stared at the door apprehensive. In a split of a second Crane landed with such fury making the wood floor crack a bit. Even Tigress was impressed with his behavior.

"You..." Crane said in a way very sinister and coldly. Nobody knew who the 'you' was since Crane was covering his face with the straw hat and not looking at anyone at particular."You...and your wolves,"

At this everyone stared at Shen, it was even more shocking to see the peacock's petrified and confused face. Obviously he did not understand what the crane was talking about.

"Hum...me?Me what?" Shen asked hesitantly. The reply from Crane was 'phenomenal'.

"YOU AND YOUR WOLVES KILLED MY PARENTS SHEN!ITS BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I SPENT ALMOST MY ENTIRE LIFE SUFFERING MISERABLY!THANKS A LOT FOR THAT!I DONT REGRET SAVING YOUR LIFE BUT DONT YOU DARE TO TALK WITH ME AGAIN!"

After the incredible outburst of fury Crane left the room kicking the door out his way with so much strength that it broke it by half.

Everyone was too stunned to even think, especially Shen. The peacock sit there with his beak half open at shock while staring at the place Crane was standing a moment ago screaming like a mad men. After few minutes of silence Master Shifu appeared at the door. The red panda eyed with curiosity what was left of the door that Crane broke.

"I think I heard Crane talking," Shifu said looking at them with expectation. Of course the red panda was waiting for someone to explain.

"Master Shifu, I think Crane knows about his parents fate," Tigress said while looking at the peacock with mixed feelings. Apparently the peacock didn't knew about that and was trying to remember about such event. It amazed Tigress to see how much that let Shen down instantly, did he really liked Crane as a close friend?And now he lost him?

"Oh, that," Shifu said with a frown. _'I thought she would wait a bit more before letting him now. This was not the proper time.' _

"I...I don't...I don't understand...what..." Shen was so confused, it wasn't normal for the peacock to become like this, but everything seemed so illogical for him at the moment, especially because he couldn't remember of that event. Viper and Po felt bad for him, the others just went passive on that matter.

**Meanwhile...**

Crane returned to his room where Mei Ling was still waiting for him. Soon as he got inside he saw her expression of disappointment.

"You promised," Was the only thing she said. Crane groaned.

"Of everything you could have told me...I wasn't expecting that," The avian confessed while sitting next to her. The cat embraced him gently understanding how much painful that was for him.

"It's ok, but will you hate him forever?" She asked trying to see his expression. Crane just stared at the floor blankly.

"I don't hate him," Crane replied unsure. "I just...don't feel like talking with him for now. Damn...I know how Po felt now."

"Hey, my family didn't went great either, as I told you. Most people here had problems about it, it's up to kung fu warriors like us to make sure other people don't have to go through this as we did," Crane couldn't help but smile a bit.

"You're right, that's what we're here for. Even so I don't think I can see Shen again. I need time."

"Well, in the mean time...why we don't catch up with each-other?" Mei Ling suggested with a teasing smile. Crane chuckled.

"Sounds great."

**Meanwhile...**

"Master Shifu, sorry to interrupt. We just receive our reports on Dai Lu Yan's activities. I think we all need to discuss this."

Zach came into the kitchen along with Helo and Trigger. The hybrid fox seemed anxious. The red panda gave him a quick nod for him to proceed. Zach placed a long scroll over the kitchen table were everyone was sitting at.

"Ok, reports tell us about few factories on different regions of China, most of them on places almost out of range for us. Those factories belong to Dai Lu Yan's army since we confirmed that his troops are making protection of them. Apparently those factories are producing heavy quantities of heavy weaponry."

Zach made a pause while looking at the peacock next to him. Everyone immediately understood by that the fox was talking about Shen's cannons.

"We don't know for long they've been operational, but probably no more than a couple of months. The problem is that they're quite far from each other and we manage to uncover at least seven factories spread out there."

"Seven?Why so many?" Wondered Master Shifu with curiosity.

"We believe that the more factories spread out there the faster aid he can give to his troops no matter where, and also he can produce a reasonable number of them in a real short time," Helo answered for Master Shifu.

"Are those factories very protected?" Tigress asked while looking at the scroll at the table.

It was a map about information of every place on China, especially cities and geography terrain, the most curious was how the details would go further outside China's empire limits. She saw few marks that probably were the location of the factories and some other marks Tigress could only wonder what they could be.

"Quite a lot," Trigger said approaching the tiger in a very unusual manner."Perhaps a whole division of troops per each factory, my dear."

Tigress growled audibly at him. Trigger's mannerisms wouldn't be bought by Tigress by any chance.

"It would take way too long to assault those places with our troops, the best way to deal with them is by sabotage," Zach said while exterminating the map.

"That would require stealth warriors to infiltrate those places," Master Shifu said while thinking on the matter carefully." You would need warriors extremely experienced on that field. How many of those you think your army has?" Zach sighed.

"Just a few, maybe two dozens, not much more. Also there's the fact those factories are on very remote and distant locations. We would need to split our teams in order to neutralize them fast as possible, at least before Dai Lu Yan get a report of our intentions and decides to guard them much better."

"So we'll take part on this?" Po asked anxiously. Master Shifu nodded.

"This is a clear threat that must be neutralized, if we don't stop those factories and their production Dai Lu Yan's army will grow much stronger and will be impossible to detain him."

"What they're producing will mostly change the fate of war, if we avoid those cannons to reach Dai's army we'll triplicate our chances of victory. This is our biggest priority from now on. I'm assembling few teams, of course Master Shifu will discuss about this with all of you and form teams as well. I'll be back with more details at night. We won't be able to leave any sooner thanks to that Imperial convoy that will be here tomorrow. We'll see what will be the outcome of this soon."

"I'm sure we'll avoid any confrontation with the Imperials, we must inform about Dai Lu Yan to the emperor, we just have to make sure they won't get suspicious over us,"

"The renegades gathered an army too?" Tigress asked straight to Zach.

"Yes, about thirteen thousand men at disposal, we hope that our reinforcements from the northeast manage to get here in time. Most part of our militia is there."

"How exactly you pretend to attack those facilities?" Monkey wondered at curiosity.

"We'll split of teams, each group won't have more than ten people, if is stealth we'll use then high numbers won't be of help. Each group will be place with someone to lead, to heal, to observe, to distract, to report, and the rest mostly to fight. I'm not aware of how big those factories are, I'll order a deeper report on that, might take few days to get all the answers."

"Who will split the teams?" Mantis asked. That was the question everyone was most interested to have it cleared.

"I'll make my teams, while Master Shifu decides who will make part of each one," Was all that Zach said before leaving. Helo came forward to let his opinion before leaving.

"The distance of one factory from another will result that we separate and don't hear from each other for days, and maybe weeks. If you all have anything to share or time to spend with those you care deeply, this is the time. Maybe this will be the last one, nobody can guarantee that we all will come back, at least not alive."

The way he said that was quite depressing, as if he said that before and indeed things went the way he said.

"I'm the only one who has a bad feeling about this?" Mantis asked to no one in particular.

Nobody bothered to reply. They all knew they would be now facing a challenge greater than anything they've been through before, and this time they wouldn't be together.

**Meanwhile...**

"The Valley is being heavily guarded sis, some men I've never seen before seem to be spread across all over the village and the fields outside. Getting in will be much harder than we anticipated."

"That won't be the biggest trouble dear Wan, those fools probably don't know what we're capable of. Once we get inside the temple we go straight for our objective and once done we leave quickly. We just have to wait for Wing to come back an tell us what she discovered," Su Wu said with a sinister smile.

Not very after she said that Wing Wu indeed returned from her watch. She wasted no time to talk with Su.

"You won't believe on what I just discovered," She said with clear excitement. Su Wu grow curious quickly.

"What is it?"

"Do you remember that avian from the Furious Five?"

"The crane?Yes, I do. I would've killed him without trouble if Mei Ling haven't show up that day," Wing said with clear frustration.

"Well, I heard he's on a relationship with our dear Mei Ling,"

"What?!That bird and her?" Su Wu was utterly shocked. "I wonder how much more foolish Mei Ling can get."

"That's weird, but also we can use this in our favor or joy," Wing suggested indirectly to her sisters. They all smirked at the possibilities.

"This will make things much easier and enjoyable than I could ask for, we'll set a plan and wait for the right moment to act, until there keep monitoring their movements and routine."

**Meanwhile... **

Helo came to the dorms dispose to talk with Crane and inform him about their new objectives. Why the eagle bothered to do such was only a personal reason that he would keep for himself. He stopped quickly when he heard intense moaning coming from the avian's room. He recognized it as Crane, for a moment Helo wondered if the waterfowl was agonizing, but then when he heard Mei Ling moaning as well he quickly turned around to leave. Crane was way far from agonizing.

The eagle decided to return to his post, but before he could get outside he met with the group of masters returning to the dorms.

"Hey Helo, what you're doing here?" Po asked when he saw the eagle coming from the hallway.

"I came to talk with Crane, but he..."

"He what?" Mantis asked not understanding why the eagle paused. Without answering Helo quickly returned to the hallway to talk with the couple. After reaching at Crane's door Helo knocked it on a hurry. The moaning sounds stopped instantly.

"Who is it?" Crane asked nervously. The waterfowl feared that Master Shifu would be at their door.

"It's me Helo, I think it would be a good idea if you two stop moaning so loudly. The others are coming here and you know how awkward this might be."

"Oh, thanks for that Helo," Crane said from the other side of the door.

"Hey, no problem, also there's some things I need to talk with you two about and I was thinking if you two wouldn't mind if we go out and get to know each other a bit more. Just the three of us."

"That would be great, I'm ok with that," Mei Ling said while giggling sheepishly.

"Okay, have a good one," The eagle said cheerfully before leaving, he completely ignored the Furious Five and Po that entered few seconds later at the hall.

**Meanwhile... **

"So they agreed?They want to go along?" Yallin asked after Zach returned from his visit at the Palace.

"Yes, we need to work on who we will sent with them. Whoever they might be must be able to protect those warriors from the worst. I would feel extremely guilty if any of them died, especially the panda and that crane. There's something about those two that I haven't seen a long time on other people. Hopefully this will be our last crusade, China's fate will be decided finally in this great engagement."

"Let's hope we have enough strength to decide it at our favor,"

"We always have hopes Yallin, no matter how small they are. Hope is the last one to die," Yallin chuckled.

"Of course it is, when all of us die obviously there won't be anyone to hope for anything anyway."

**A/N: So sorry for the delay again!But then mostly is because of the ADGTH story I'll be working already. I'll keep the rate of update for now on, but maybe one time or another there will be delay. I can't promise much now. Have a great week!**


	44. Chapter 44

**A/N: Hi again everyone!Goods news!Not about KFP since I gave it enough good news lol. I published the first chapter of the All Dogs go to heaven fanfic me and Charlie are working on. If anyone it's interested you can go to the archive to check it or by my profile. To the replies!**

**Unrealistic23;**

_Lol, it was_ heh?_ :P_

**Shooting Star;**

_Nice to hear that!I'm sure you'll like it, I did! :)_

**XDiAZ;**

_Poor, he doesn't indeed. :( _

**Unilever;**

_I agree._

**Bluewings;**

_Whoa, long time!Good to see you again buddy!_

**TheHonorableTest;**

_LOL, thanks! :)_

**JubJub007;**

_Thank you! :)_

**strange dude;**

_You liked that one huh? :P_

**Charlie B. Barkin;**

_First chapter up, enjoy it, and thanks for the reply._

**SH;**

_Ahn, that's ok lol! :P I gotta say it went weird indeed XD Yes, dangerous they are._

**Alpha Tiger;**

_Yep, not a good time, and might get worse._

While everyone was discussing about the renegade's plans to attack the factories Shen went outside to isolate himself with his own thoughts. What Crane yelled to him at the kitchen earlier made Shen lost himself a bit from reality. Never he saw Crane act so angry before, neither yell at him such way before. The thing he said about killing his parents made the peacock not only shocked, but curious.

He couldn't remember any previous encounter with any other crane before, he also wondered who said such to the waterfowl. Who would say such thing?How could they possibly know something that not even Shen knew?That just came out of the blue for the peacock.

The sudden noise of wings flapping nearby alerted the peacock. He slowly turned around to see Fenghuang landing softly.

"Shen, are you alright?What you're doing out here?" She asked gently while approaching him. The peacock wondered if he should let her be concerned about his own problems.

"It's...nothing," Shen said with much confidence. The owl raised an eyebrow.

"Really?Shen, you can tell me what's wrong. You know you can trust me."

"I know that, it's just...not a good thing to talk about, past and all that kind of subject,"

At this the owl was a bit more understanding of Shen's hesitation of trust. Talking about his past would mean to get in mind things the peacock probably wanted to leave behind if possible. She always felt slightly curious to know more about him, but since the Furious Five were sent in a hurry to deal with him she presumed it wouldn't be much of good. Of course at this she didn't bother much, those last years the owl didn't play nice one either. Even so it was hard to compare the things she did wrong with what Shen did.

"I would like to know, if you don't mind, maybe I can help you," Fenghuang offered. Shen thought about that for few seconds, tempted to tell her everything he always have been.

"Crane went to the kitchen and yelled at me...a lot," This surprised the owl.

"Why he would do that?I thought he has a special care for you,"

"He had, now that he find out somehow that my wolves killed his parents when he was a child he's not willing to talk with me anymore. He pretty much hates me by now," Shen said with difficult. If Crane hated him the peacock wasn't sure if he could blame Crane, but probably himself.

Fenghuang realized how delicate this topic was and waited a moment thinking on something that could relieve some of Shen's agony.

"But...do you remember that moment?When the wolves killed them?" She asked firmly.

"I probably was there, normally I would go with those wolves at the beginning to make sure they were capable of doing the tasks it was given. I don't remember of any crane other than Huang that I've seen before. Maybe the wolves did that without me knowing of it, but then I ordered them to kill all the people in the village to cover the tracks. So that pretty much makes me responsible for it."

At that point Fenghuang realized it would be pointless to find something to argue at the peacock's favor. It he gave that order indeed there's no how to deny the fact. She could understand how Shen was feeling with all of this.

"What the others said?"

"Nothing, as if they expected me to have done such thing. Probably nothing I've done in the past will surprise them anymore after they were told that I'm the one who destroyed Po's village. But that doesn't make things better."

"You think Crane hates you?"

"He should, what I've done with him is unforgivable," Shen replied harshly. Fenghuang paused.

"But Po forgave you,"

Shen's eyes widened, he almost forgot about his issues with the panda. That very fateful day at Gongmen where Shen was standing in the middle of his defeated army, while awaiting for the panda to come at him and finish him for once. But then the panda went to chat, talking about changing his own ways, about inner goodness and peace.

The moment the panda forgave what Shen had done with him was something that hardly the peacock would ever forget. Fenghuang did have a good point, but then...Po was different from Crane, and vice-versa. It would take more time for Crane to accept what Shen did than Po.

"Perhaps, but Po is..." Shen tried to find the right words to define the panda.

"Special?" Fenghuang suggested with a chuckle. Shen sighed tiredly.

"You can say so..."

**Meanwhile... **

"So, what are the news?" Wang asked while sharpening her blades. The last hours have been quite monotone for the Wu Sister, not having any action was getting her quite upset. Her sisters went into field research trying to find a way to get into the Valley without being detected, needless to say it seemed almost impossible if not by air. Those renegades were covering every single inch of it, the perimeter they establish was incredible effective, much to the Wu's anger.

"They keep doing regular alternations on guards, hardly you'll find any lacking of attention. All the rivers are cover as well. Night guard is double, and every road is fill with dozens of them. I believe they're expecting the Imperial party to arrive any moment. Trying to get in now would be extremely risky."

Wang let out a chuckle. She watched carefully her informant, at first she had doubts about Dai Lu Yan's loyal right hand to be an effective fighter taking into consideration how much weak Dai was himself. Wang felt a bit surprise at the strength of his warrior and effectiveness at infiltrating on the enemy lines with raising any suspicious, but this informant has been along the renegade for years and now was proving himself more useful than ever.

"So no way in, what a shame," Wang said more to himself.

"But there's a good new," The avian suddenly said. At this Wang felt curiosity.

"Which would be?"

"The Furious Five, along few renegades, plan to leave the Valley very soon to hunt after Dai Lu Yan's weapon factories. Wang felt her curiosity turn into excitement.

"Wonderful!That's the chance we need, anything else?"

"Yes, they'll leave in small group to make sure they can hit all the factories simultaneously."

"Perfect, this will make things a lot more easier, so much waiting will finally compensate. After we hunt Mei and her boyfriend down then we'll be able to go back to our business."

"But Dai Lu Yan requested for you all to eliminated all the members of the Five," The avian said with a frown. Wang's voice turned icy in an instant.

"Do not dare to tell me what to do, neither him!We Wu do on our own, I don't have to say I really don't care about your precious Dai Lu whatsoever, if he's unhappy with our way to work tell him to met me personally to discuss about that face to face. Let's see if he's the great man you foolish follows blindly."

The avian grunt ather angrily, but he knew it wouldn't be a good idea to pick a fight so soon, much less with a Wu.

"Suit yourself Wu, let's see how long you'll last when Dai Lu Yan's raises to the throne."

"Don't make threats if you're not sure if there's the possibility to execute them. You better watch yourself, besides me there's those people you're among with, they are dangerous as well, especially if they find who you truly are. Helo."

"I don't need you concern," The eagle stared deadly at her before leaving. Wang smirked.

"Fool, he'll be dead before Dai Lu Yan,"

**Meanwhile... **

"Alright, for some reason the imperial part took a detour and it's returning quickly to the Imperial City, why we don't know."

Zach was again at the kitchen with everyone else reunited, except for Crane, Mei Ling and Helo. He managed to convince Shen to come along. Lately the foc have been making reunions with more intensity than Shifu would order the Five to train. Most of the member of the Palace were getting a bit upset with that, especially those who not live in it.

"It's the fourth time Zach, what's going on this time?" Ryskin complained loudly at him. The wolf was having enough of this reunions, his young brother Paol was also getting tired. Trigger was there to and didn't took him long enough to notice Helo's absence.

"Where is that over-sized bird now?I told him to keep guard outside the Hall of Warriors," The hawk complained. Zach sigh.

"I gave him orders as well, Helo is a very tasked person, don't doubt on his loyalty towards you Trigger, he did way too much for us to complain if he's not on the place we wanted."

"Which means?" Trigger asked raising an eyebrow.

"Give him a break sometimes, would you?!Poor guy haven't rested for days!"

"Most of us didn't," Trigger seemed to be insisting on arguing.

"But for hours, not days!Now shut up and listen!Nobody managed to find out why the imperials gave up coming here, all I heard was of disturbances occurring at the Royal Valley, which means that Dai Lu Yan probably is moving his toys around and taking strategic positions, the empire doesn't precisely knows who the attackers are, they think it's a surprise attack coming from Japan. Of course that leave us in a hurry, the cannons haven't reached Dai's front armies yet, but few are already on the road. Our few men out there are slowing them down, but if we don't take the factories there won't be enough people to stop such vast force."

"So we're moving on today," Master Shifu said as if confirming Zach's intentions.

"Exactly, my groups are settled. Just waiting for yours Master Shifu so we can start making our moves too, the Valley is out of danger for now, I'm relocating most troops in here to the outskirts of the Royal Valley. I do not intend to help the emperor, but we'll strike them at the back several times. It will cause a major commotion in the enemies and probably collapse their lines."

"Good tactic, but I advise you to make sure no more troops arrive, especially by boats. The Royal Valley is mainly rivers and lakes," Shen advised while taking a brief look at the map over the table.

Zach didn't expect for Shen to say anything, but thankfully he did and that's exactly what the renegade expected from an experienced field commander.

"Any more ideas to make our attack effective?"

"Spread your troops, if you conquer every shore in that region you'll isolate their troops in their boats making them way easier targets, if they can't land they'll be doomed."

"Sounds great," Trigger said appreciating the idea of making a rain of arrows fell over boats filled with imperials that have no where to run or hide.

"Awesome, this will give us great advantage. Thanks Shen, huh...well, once you get your groups ready Shifu we'll met at the bottom of the stairs and get on road. See you all later."

With that all the renegades left the kicthen in a hurry. The Furious Five, Po, Shen and Fenghuang all glared at Shifu.

"So this is it, our final battle will begin. The fate of China upon us. Tigress, advise Crane and Mei Ling to meet us at the Hall of Warriors, I'll be making the teams for depart. Make sure you're all there in three hours with all the necessary for long voyages. This will a real and long and important one."

"Yes, Master," Tigress said while bowing. Soon after she left the kitchen pretty much everyone else did, except for Shen and Po.

The peacock took notice of the panda staying behind. Po came at him with clear hesitation.

"What do you want?" Shen asked not feeling bothered anymore by Po's nervousness.

"Hum...listen, what happen few hours ago. I know how terrible you must be feeling, I'm sure Crane doesn't hate you. He's just...mad, but that will pass with time. I can't be sure if he'll forgive you or not, but if he's the same Crane I've always admired I'm sure he will. He just need time to deal that feeling."

Even it costed for Shen to believe the panda was right, maybe Shen should give it time and see how it goes.

"Was that easy for you to forgive me?" Shen asked remembering the day at Gongmen. Po chuckled nervously.

"Not that much, but...I could understand your pain,"

At this Shen stared at the panda, but to his surprise he was gone. What he meant with that?What pain he understood?

**Meanwhile...**

A sudden knock at the door awoke Crane and Mei Ling. Both were sleeping near each other after an exhaustive 'session'.

"Who is it?" Crane asked while yawning.

"It's Tigress, get you things packed for trip, we're leaving in few hours. And you too Mei Ling,"

First, how Tigress knew Mei Ling was there too?Second, what trip?

"What trip Tigress?I'm not aware of anything," Crane responded. Tigress chuckled.

"First thing you do after recovering of a memory loss is to get laid. I'm not surprise you're not aware of anything Crane."

That comment made both Crane and Mei Ling blush intensely.

"Er...have you got enough fun?" The waterfowl asked timidly.

"Yes. Get ready to leave, meet us at he Hall of Warriors in three hours,"

Crane heard the soft footsteps indicating that Tigress was leaving in a hurry.

"She's a figure some times," Mei Ling said while dressing.

"Yes, she is," Crane said while turning to face the mountain cat. After she got dressed Mei Ling took notice of Crane that was standing there staring at her all the time.

"Crane, you stood still all the time watching me?" She asked teasingly.

"Yeah?" Crane responded without thinking. The mountain cat chuckled. She tossed Crane's pants at the avian and manage to make them fell over him beak.

"Get dressed already silly boy, we have things to do."

**A/N: Sorry I couldn't make more for this chapter, had a lot with the other story. Have a nice week!**


	45. Chapter 45

**A/N: Hi everyone, this is the special chapter before New Year, Forgotten Hope is entering the third year of existence 2012-2013-2014. A period way longer that I would expect, and probably more years are still to come, BUT with this chapter we finally reached half of the story. And now I want to thank everyone who kept along since 2012 and those who entered in 2013.**

**Of course I'm also planning a new KFP fanfic, this time featuring a CranexTigress!Hahah, I bet nobody expected for that one!And makes me wonder why this paring, despite being two main characters so popular and close to each other on friendship(I believe), was never taken(or at least on the five stories that were never completed about this pairing in the whole archive) more seriously before. I know people love PoxTigress, but then if there were people who did Tai LungxTigress a lot too, why CraneXTigress was forgotten about?I think it deserves a new try, and this time I'll make a story and I'll complete it!**

**Due the fact I decided to start Tails & Tales story first I couldn't make a chapter for this story yet, but since ADGTH archive traffic is on a stop I might delay some updates on that story to work in this new one. Of course that anyone interested on helping doing this CranexTigress is more than welcomed. I have wonders about this story, it will be a real challenging one since Tigress is a very difficult character to take it on the right way, which mostly means in-character, no matter if thoughts, actions or etc...**

**Anyway, I'm truly excited about this new project and I can't wait to star it soon!And now my very thanks for all those who came along and joined!**

**Note: This fic will have 90 chapters.**

**_Forgotten Hope 2013-2014 = Special thanks to:_**

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**_And all the 30,000 viewers, thank you!_**

Everyone was gathered at the Hall of Warriors, the only exception being Helo. Trigger notably complained about the eagle's absence, but quickly was silenced by Zach.

"He got his own business Trigger, we don't own anyone to do whatever we want, now shut up and be nice."

"Easy for you to say," Muttered the Hawk with venom.

All the kung fu masters were reunited while Zach was giving them the instructions of what would be of each group. Notably Zach did his groups taking into consideration the terrain advantages and who would explore them better, but Shifu's choice was way different from any of that.

"Wait, wait, wait. So...Po and Tigress, Monkey and Mantis, Viper and you, Crane and Shen, Mei Ling and Fenguang?" The fox asked with some uncertain.

"That's correct," Master Shifu said with a nod.

"I think it's not necessary to have two people so intelligent like Crane and Shen in the same group, it would be a waste."

"Hum...I agree, so what do you suggest?" Shifu asked politely. The red panda internally cringed annoyed, his purpose of sending Crane along with Shen filled with hopes of they would set things right between each other was now at stake.

"Let Crane and Mei Ling tag along, so Shen will go with Fenghuang," Before Shifu said anything he carefully approached of the fox for a private conversation.

"I understand your reasons, but I need someone I can deeply trust to watch on those two, I cannot guarantee that Fenghuang will keep the spirit," Zack smirked. Shifu wasn't being complete honest with his motives, but Zach didn't saw throughout his faked excuses.

"Someone to watch over both, huh?Okay...then let Fenghuang with Tigress and Po with Shen. What do you think?"

"An interesting idea I might say, I just wonder if Po and Shen will handle each other," Shifu said knowing there was no way he could send the avians together now.

"Just time will tell."

After setting the groups a specific number of trust-able renegades was select to compose each group, after ready they would leave in the next hours without delay.

**Meanwhile...**

"So we'll go after this factories, huh?A long time out for some entertainment," Mei Ling commented with a chuckle. She was in Crane's room again after finishing her own badges. The waterfowl was busy thinking on bringing along only the necessary, but honestly Crane wasn't one of gathering stuff in his room. He had very few with him, something that did not went unnoticed by the mountain cat.

"I thought that being so popular as a Furious Five would help you to suit yourself with more...properties," Mei Ling said throwing an indirect at the avian. Crane chuckled.

"If it was the case my room would have more junk than the basement of the Palace, but since there's something called honor and good deeds I believe hardly I would get into such situation," The waterfowl's response was kinda harsh.

"You never wanted anything special?Or something you praised or needed?" She asked being a bit surprise, Crane praised the hat she gave him, and a lot. There was no reason to believe he wouldn't feel the same for something else. The waterfowl stopped what he was doing and stared silently at the wooden floor.

"Well...not really. I...never could think of anything more special or that I needed...at least not more than you."

Mei Ling was surprise and extremely content with his answer, she could understand his point of view about that.

"Heh, can't say you're wrong about that, but even you Jien has a personal desire for a certain material. No matter what. I expect you to trust me such feeling since we're together now,"

The way Mei Ling said that sounded critical, as if she got disappointed with the way Crane was acting as life partner, way below her expectations so far. The waterfowl understood her discomfort, but even on couples there was a tendency for privacy at certain aspects.

"I know Mei, I'm not trying to hide anything, I'm not used to think I can have what I want since I've been living under strict rules for too long. This huge liberty is...disturbing me a bit."

"Oh, when you say that I have to agree, but I can help you._*chuckle*_ Money is not a problem," She said while swinging her tail around the avian's legs. Crane just love when she does such.

"Heh, never would be, not when you have a cave full of jewel anyway," The avian said finally packing the rest of his belongings.

"Oh yeah!I nearly forgot about that place!" Mei Ling was amazed with herself for nearly letting that memory come to a lose. Crane felt a bit hurt, that place was even more special for him after he and Mei...

"Sorry about it Huang, I don't get it how I forgot that there were so many jewels and other treasures there. I think our fun made me forget it completely."

Crane raised an eyebrow. _Fun?_That was a weird way to referee about s-

"Hey!Crane!Are you there?!"

The sudden yell at the door interrupted Crane's thoughts.

"Po?What's going on?" The avian asked without opening the door.

"Sorry for disturbing, but the renegade dude said that the Wu Sisters may hunt us after we leave the Valley, so everyone must be very cautious otherwise we'll get into serious trouble, especially if we're divided in small groups."

"Oh, that's true. Those Wu must still be near the Valley, I doubt they would leave even if we stayed here for months," Mei Ling said tiredly.

"Yeah, so...see you two at the Hall of Warriors!" The panda said before leaving noisily.

Crane took a moment to reflect. The Wu still being around would only mean they were waiting for the right moment to attack Mei Ling. There was no other reason whatsoever for them to be here, but the group Ling would travel would have him, Helo, Trigger and some renegade lady wolf called Kathrin, besides few elite men from the renegade's forces. Crane had extreme doubts that any of those, apart of him and Ling , could handle the Wu in close combat.

"Thinking too much again?" Mei Ling asked while caressing the avian's neck. The feeling that the touch caused on Crane relieved the avian partly of the concern the situation was generating inside him.

"Just the usual, not much as I would before. Of course that any distractions you have to offer are more than welcome," Crane replied while smiling teasingly.

"Silly, don't get too comfy with that idea," Mei Ling said with a light laugh.

**Meanwhile... **

After a couple hours every one in the Palace left and gathered at the village, while Po went to say goodbye to his father the others were already meeting with the rest of their teammates.

Zach introduced the members he selected to make part of the groups. Oddly enough the number of people was way below the Five expected.

There were five renegades only.

"Wait a minute, I though you would send more people with us," Mantis said being surprise by the familiar renegades. They were nothing more than Paol, Yallin, Trigger, Helo and Ryskin.

"I know, but I'm afraid this is a task that will require skill and experience at maximum with numbers at minimum, especially because I'm sending my best men, and I cannot send more cause we need all the rest," Zach replied formally.

"So who's going with who?" Monkey questioned.

"Paol will go along Po and Shen, Yallin will go with Viper and Shifu, Ryskin will go with Tigress and Fenghuang, Trigger with Monkey and Mantis, and Helo with Crane and Mei Ling,"

The eagle totally did not appreciate the group he was set in, not only displeased but also concerned. He obviously would try to argue.

"Hum...can I ask something?" Helo said lifting his huge wing to call the attention of Zach. The fox looked at him.

"Really?Well the answer is 'no', now since you packed your things Helo you can start moving on, we don't have any more time to waste here. I wish you all good luck. Most of renegades in the Valley will be leaving shortly to the Imperial Valley, we'll meet with the rest of our army there. Take care everyone, we'll be counting on you, if you succeed I'm recommending for you all to regroup at Hei Shing province located at the Imperial Valley outskirts, we'll have that area under our control until you return."

Everyone nodded silently, most buried under deep concern of the new challenge they'll be facing, one that will cost very much if they fail.

Shen walked away while having the young renegade Paol next to him, the peacock did not say anything since he barely knew the wolf, after a couple minutes Po was back.

"Hey, so we're going already?" The panda asked noticing the two separated from the rest.

"If you wanna say goodbye to them it's fine, we'll be waiting for you," Paol said while crossing his arms. The panda nodded while rushing for the rest. Paol carefully watched over the peacock, the avian barely moved, it amazed the wolf how calmly the peacock was acting, as if the fact of going into a total war did not bothered him at all. The behavior of a very experienced man in this kind of situation.

_'I wonder why Dai Lu Yan had so much interest in this man' _

**Meanwhile... **

Crane and Mei Ling watched as Po said his goodbyes while being very emotive. They chuckled as they saw he get all red while talking with Tigress.

"You really think he got something for her?" Crane asked with wonder while watching the panda.

"I believe so, I know when a man gets flustered for no apparent reason near a women," The mountain cat replied.

"I hope he can handle this, I'm not sure if Tigress is one of getting involved at all," The waterfowl said with skepticism.

"You would be surprised of how different Tigress can be from what she let apparent to you boys, I myself was at the start," Mei Ling said appreciating the view.

Helo was nearby the two, and since he was out of their view they couldn't see the anxiety on his expression. He was deeply infuriated with Zach for getting him in the team he totally_ shouldn't_ make part of. He had a deal and carried it, but now odds were totally against him. Since the Wu would be tracking them Helo could not expect that those cats wouldn't attack him at all, they didn't seem the type of being reasonable.

One Wu alone wouldn't dare to fight him but three?If Helo wanted to stand a chance he would need the help of the other two, but with that the two could find out the true about him and let the eagle all by himself, if the couple was attacked first Helo could just fly away, but he seriously doubt it wold be that easy, the Wu knew that they had more chances of taking down quick a big target without kung fu experience like the eagle instead experienced thin ones like Crane or Mei Ling.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Helo almost jumped frightened by the sudden contact. He calmed himself to see it was Mei Ling talking with him.

"Err..yeah, I'm fine, just a bit nervous, that's all,"

What Helo said was partially true, he was nervous by personal reasons than the mission itself. Another thing that was making Helo wonder about himself was the mission, of course that he did not want to take down one of Dai's factories, but everything Dai Lu Yan had done so far made the eagle wonder what kind of promising future that man wanted for China, so far Helo only saw death and destruction. Dai Lu Yan convinced the eagle of better times to come under his leadership, but how good they could be being under so many deaths?

In contrast with what he saw from the that man the people in Valley of Peace were totally different, especially those who lived in the Jade Palace. Helo did not expect to see such humble and dedicated warriors like them, he always listened the stories of the Five greatest battles and achievements, but looking closely at them...they were normal as any other.

While Mei Ling went to gather their bags Crane aproached Helo for a private talk.

"There's something I wanna talk with you, but I need you to keep it a secret." Crane said with some seriousness. Helo was curious with it. The waterfowl then revealed something he was holding in one of his wings. Helo beak dropped a bit.

"You...you're gonna...ask her?" Was all the eagle could say. Crane nodded.

"Just waiting for the right time to come, I'll know when it comes of course," The waterfowl said full of proud. Helo said nothing more, this new info just made his conscience felt heavier than ten rhinos on top of each other. Mei Ling returned few seconds later placing the bags near them.

"Well, let's get going, we have a long road ahead of us," Crane said while walking across the two, Helo slowly followed him, but Mei Ling didn't. Crane took notice of this and stopped to stare at her."Mei?"

"Are you two idiots?" She asked while frowning. The avians were stunned.

"What?" Crane did not understand, neither Helo. Mei Ling groaned.

"What road?!You two can fly!We probably can reach our objective faster than anyone else!"

Crane and Helo eavesdropped.

"Oh, yeah, that's truth, but what about you?" Helo asked while being extremely content for this good appointment she made.

"Well, I'm sure you're big enough to carry me on your back, aren't you?" She said with a smirk. Helo stared silently. He could support her weight easily, but that felt a bit humiliating.

"That sounds a great idea, can you do it Helo?It would save us great time," Crane asked while looking expectantly at the eagle.

"Sureee..." Helo said while lowering himself slowly so Mei Ling could sit on his back. Helo felt his face heating up quick when he saw the renegades nearby laughing like hyenas when they saw the cat on his back._'I'll make sure when I get back to teach those idiots a lesson,' _

The mountain cat adjusted herself on Helo's back without any trouble. The eagle flapped his wings harshly while Crane took their bags to carry. After few seconds they flew towards the horizon while the rest watched with apprehension, most wondering if they would see them again.

**Meanwhile...**

"Can I ask you something?" Trigger said to Zach while checking his equipment.

"What is is?" The fox replied with suspicious.

"Why can't I go with the girls?"

This question surprised the renegade a bit. The hawk probably was talking about Tigress and Fenghuang.

"Why?Well, first off I seriously doubt you'll find any other two women more independent than those two, second off I think you're nothing more than a show off and I doubt again that you would last long in their company, especially cause any of the two can give you a beat."

Zach ignored the annoyed expression of the hawk and moved on to his own business.

**Meanwhile...**

Ryskin had his bag ready, Tigress and Fenghuangs have said their goodbyes to their friends but waited for the renegade to talk with his brother before departure. Paol was reunited with Po and Shen.

Shen was totally ignoring the panda the best he could, mostly because he still couldn't get used with Po's silliness at most situations. While Paol talked with his old brother Po came close to Tigress to say his goodbyes, again.

"So, heh...we're going, it's been the hell of a week, huh?" Po said sheepishly while looking at the female tiger. Tigress nodded.

"Yes, and now the greatest fate is upon us, we shall make our best to not fail this mission," She replied fomally. After few second Po opened his mouth and close a couple of times, as if he was trying to say something but had his own doubts. But then...

"Take care out there, Tigress."

The female warrior stared at him surprised, that was something she heard a couple of times before when fighting or going into missions, but why this time it felt so special?

"Yeah, you too...Po," She said with a tiny smile.

After Paol and Ryskin finally were over each group followed separated ways. Crane's group had left already, and so Shifu's group, Mantis group was at the outskirts already and Po and Tigress group left for last.

A voyage they would never forget finally started, the fate of the whole China relying on them, more than ever they could not fail. While aiming for the future and always having hopes for the best.

**A/N: Happy New Year!**


	46. Chapter 46

**A/N: Well, everyone here I'm back with another chapter, normally I wouldn't be publishing anything for a while since I got problems that kept me away from focusing on anything at Fanfiction, I'm really sorry for the delay this caused and still will cause. I'm totally out of condition to do weekly updates, maybe if I'm lucky I can get two chapters in a month. More than that it's impossible for me right now and I'm sorry for it.**

**Also it's even harder cause I'm having a bad time deciding where I should take this story, the path is not clear yet for me, I'm really unsure of what to do cause I'm reaching the parts where decisions are to be made and will take direct impact on the final chapters of this whole thing.**

**I honestly was wondering about keeping the story on hiatus til the end of the year, but I can't stop thinking of how much it BOTHERS me to not be doing this for more often. I've been trying to take a time to calm down and get a better analysis of everything, cause I honestly forgot how the story was at the first 20 chapters lol.**

**Anyway I will be making chapters on regular size(3,000) or ****less than that. I still can post replies for the reviews but not in this one.**

**I wanna thank everyone who's been keeping with the story and for you admirable support, couldn't have reached this far without all of you. This is not the end, but a slow down for now. **

**I was about to start working on other ideas but realized I only have limited time for two stories...so...enjoy.**

Each group of kung fu warriors along with few renegades went to different paths. Shifu's group went to the southeast, Tigress group went to the east, Po's group went extreme northwest, Crane's group went north, Mantis group went extreme southwest.

At west the Imperial Valley was located. Forces of collision were traveling a fierce battle at the area already. The renegade army was on a stand down at the outskirts of it waiting for the right moment to strike.

Each group would have a dangerous voyage, but maybe it would be Po's group who would face the hardest challenges on the road, their final destiny would change forever not only his fate but of Shen as well.

Shifu's group would face the longest journey of all groups, but the dangers would be minimal to the presence due the presence of the grand master.

Tigress group would face have to deal with the unknown, never anyone went deep far into the Tibet. It was a real surprise when it was revealed that one of Dai Lu Yan's factories was locate there. They assumed that the leopard must have set a deal with the locals.

For Mantis group it was hard to tell what could happen, they would be entering one of the most populated areas of China due its many trade routes and for being the biggest economy center of the empire.

For Crane's group...well, it was expect their voyage the be really short and simple...it didn't went that way.

Unknown for the Five or Po, Master Shifu sent messages around the valleys and villages across China to alert the other masters of the situation, few of them replied almost immediately and decided to work along with the renegades. Others decided to keep a neutral position until things became more clear with time.

Master Shifu didn't have time to convince those that the emperor was under imminent threat. Dai Lu Yan played well and didn't let his actions go noticed by anyone apart of Valley of Peace.

Master Rhino and Master Croc sent a message to Shifu supporting his decision and they were on their way to join the grand master, it would take a week before they could gather with the red panda and his group.

It's been exactly one day since they left the Valley and Tigress was already finding difficult to tag along with Fenghuang. Due the fact the Owl was the leader of the original Furious Five it was hard to keep leadership position for the female tiger since it was clear that the owl wouldn't just accept her orders that kindly.

The only renegade with the two females was Ryskin, the wolf merely watched the several arguing the other two were having. Not wanting to get involved into some nasty fight Ryskin decided it would be better to keep it shut and go along with their discussions until they reached their destination.

On the case of Po's group it was Shen who was finding difficulties to handle the panda's immaturity. Not only he found annoying how much the panda would talk but the fact that the renegade wolf, Paol, would simply go along with the panda's uninteresting conversations so well.

While each group was experiencing their first difficulties it would be Crane's group the one to endure one of the most difficult journeys, and things would get pretty bad soon.

Crane and Helo flew for a couple of hours above the high cliffs of the inner lands of China, their destination just a couple of days ahead by flying. On one of the short breaks to recover strength Crane noticed how distant Helo seemed to be, and every time the waterfowl tried to speak with the eagle, Helo would just nod and stare to the other way. It was like he was avoiding Crane for some reason, and not only Crane but Mei Ling too.

The mountain cat was getting a bit upset with the icy personality that Helo was demonstrating for no reason whatsoever. Crane managed to stop her from getting the eagle to set things right straight. The mountain cat did not like this kind of thing, to be ignored without knowing why.

Whatever was bothering Helo was something that Crane couldn't guess without doing questions that probably would make the eagle uneasy.

"Why don't you ask him?Just staring won't do any good," Mei Ling said angrily to the waterfowl.

"I don't wanna get into something that it's not my problem, just that."

"I know you trust him Huang. I know you two can get real good friends easy if you just try to show some care. Helo always said he admired your achievements as one of the Five."

Crane shifted away from the rock he was laying on to rest. Mei Ling was right, Crane should try to be more caring, this might make Helo more open to talk with them without worrying too much. Even so...

The avian came next to the eagle with cautiousness. Helo merely stared away as if he didn't know Crane was there.

"Hey...you ok?" Crane asked hesitantly. Helo slowly turned his head to the avian.

"Huh?Oh,..yeah!I'm ok...just...a bit worried. That's all," Helo smiled but it quickly faded as he stared away again.

"What's worrying you so much?" Crane asked hoping he wasn't putting too much pressure in the conversation. The eagle took a moment to reply.

"At the moment, just one thing."

"It's that bad?"

"I'm starting to think it is...way too much. Crane...if I tell you and Mei Ling a secret you two promise that you won't kill me?" The eagle asked looking straight at Crane this time.

Now that was a very odd question, especially because Helo was talking very seriously. Crane felt he was about to find out about something really unpleasant.

"Hum...sure, it can't be that bad."

Judging by the look that Helo gave him, it _is _something really bad.

Crane slowly returned next to Mei Ling waiting for Helo to come and explain what was wrong, the eagle came, he seemed a bit flustered.

Ever since Crane revealed his intentions of marrying the mountain cat Helo just couldn't stand anymore by thinking how he would lead the couple to their end in this voyage, if he kept quiet surely both would die and maybe even him. The Wu Sisters were getting closer without doubt.

"Alright, I...don't know how to say this..." The eagle slowly moved around to talk with them, they were at the top of a high cliff and it was late night, any wrong move could result in severe injuries."...you shouldn't trust the renegades, at least the leaders,"

"Why not?" Crane asked being surprise by this.

"Cause you two already met him, it's Zach,"

"What?!He's the leader?" Both Crane and Mei Ling asked amazed.

"Yes, and the worst it's that the previous leader of the organization is today China's most powerful man,"

"Wait," Mei Ling was having high suspicious about this warning."The emperor?! But if Zach want's to kill him so much it's...is all this about some kind of revenge?!"

Helo had to admire her intelligence, he nodded.

"Yes, the Emperor has raised to the throne not a long time ago, around the same time the previous leader of the renegades vanished. Fearing a betrayal from the rest of the group he decided to fled before anything happened. Somehow he got himself as the emperor. How?We still do not know. He pretends he's good and kind, but that's all a lie."

"But...what about Dai Lu Yan?" Crane asked hardly believing on anything he was hearing.

"He's a conspirator, his intentions were always higher than himself, the throne is his ambition. He hired me to spy on the renegades and the emperor,"

Helo instantly flinched as he realized what he just said. Mei Ling took no time and hit her staff harshly at the eagle's legs, he fell like a rock.

"You traitor!You've been working for him all this time?!" She asked with pure rage. Crane slowly was absorbing the situation as he watched the eagle on the floor grasping for air since Mei Ling was pressing her staff against his neck.

"I..coulfd,..not haff a cohifc...he...kill...me and my..famfly.." It was really hard for Helo to say anything while being strangled to death.

'Mei Ling!Let it go, we can't just kill him!" Crane said while pulling her off of the huge avian.

Helo did not dare to move, he felt it was better to keep on the ground.

"I regret...for obeying him, but I didn't have a choice!Not until recently when I...knew what happened with them. Of course I was informed by an old friend. Once I knew it wasn't necessary to obey him anymore I was waiting for the right opportunity to jump out, but I couldn't do that while being with the renegades, they would kill me at the same moment."

Crane and Mei ling listen to him patiently. After Mei Ling calmed down a bit she felt sad for Helo's loss.

"I'm sorry, I did not know," She said lowering her head ashamed of herself.

"Do you have any info about why he would release the Wu Sisters?" Crane asked. Helo was thankful Crane asked that, he had almost forgot about it.

"We need to move, the Wu are tracking us, Dai Lu Yan had plans for them to attack all the masters of the palace, but they just have plans for Mei Ling. They intend to use you to get to her, Crane,"

At this Crane tensed slightly, he felt Mei Ling at his side also being disturbed.

"How they know about me and Crane?" Mei Ling asked intrigued. Helo stared away embarrassed. "Oh...okay,"

"That's doesn't matter anymore, at least we know they're around so we better watch it, no more stops during night, at least up here it's hard to reach by ground. Helo...do you wanna help us?I know you wouldn't tell us that if you were to intent different."

"I want, and I will. I do not expect you two to trust me anyways but I'll do my best, and there's another thing. Zach told us we would receive backup from his people, but those are really loyal to him so we can't turn our backs at them, they really don't see us that friendly," Helo warned while slowly raising up feeling his legs a bit numb. Mei Ling can hit really hard when she wants.

"Do you expect them to turn on us any moment?" The mountain cat asked. Helo wondered about that possibility.

"Not until they receive an order to do so. And there's another problem here that almost nobody knows about, expect me and Trigger,"

"What is it?"

"Well, if I heard correctly...the Japanese empire is planning an invasion to conquer our territory."

The silence that followed was incredibly agonizing, both Crane and Mei Ling had no idea of what to say or think about that unexpected info.

"Wha...are you s-

"Yes, very sure. Trigger came from there, he still has a lot of very trustworthy contacts. When he told me about it I realized how much conflicted he was, apparently the sudden state of chaos that China is running in the moment seems the perfect opportunity for Japan to strike. It can be any moment from now."

"But...the emperor's army, Dai Lu Yan's army, the renegades. Who will defend us against such, our kung fu won't be enough against a vast army ready for a prolonged war."

"But we have something they don't," Helo said with a smirk.

"What would that be?" Crane asked hoping that it was something more than just something like 'never give up' or 'honor'.

"The cannons," Helo said simply while chuckling."If we get the cannons at our side, we can put them to do something useful,"

"Are you serious?Those things are-

"Our only hope, we cannot count with a full army, but those things will terrify the Japanese if we put them face to face. Ironic how something that was made by a mad man to destroy kung fu will be the one that can save whole China."

"Shen's was disturbed, not mad," Crane said annoyed.

"Believe whatever you want, I heard and saw some things he did, especially those villages he destroyed years ago. I've been in China longer than you think.

The waterfowl didn't anything else after that, he just kept thinking about everything Helo told them about. If it was true about what he said of the emperor then their plans would have dramatic changes. THe problem with that was informing the rest of the Five and Master Shifu.

"Do you think we can trust the renegades traveling with us?" Crane asked while pondering about the group turn around to return to the Valley.

"Ryskin, Paol and Trigger are of trust. I'm not sure about Yallin though, he's been deep into the renegades for quite some time, but I heard he doesn't really approves the way Zach conduct them."

"You think we should spare the factories?But shouldn't we destroy them?" Mei Ling asked while having her arms crossed, she was really disliking all this sudden change of plans.

"Hum...they're being controlled by Dai Lu Yan's men, if we capture and secure them using people of trust I think this will be a great deal for us."

"But the problem is...who can we trust?" Mei Ling retorted. At this Helo had no answer.

"We'll figure that out later, we go to the factory, disable it and we figure out what to do after that, the only thing I'm concerned now it's to warn the others of what's really going on. I don't know how we going to convince them, I don't think that so much info will have the desired effect through a simple scroll," Crane said while gathering their stuff. "We better keep moving, if the Wu are really tracking us they'll find a way to get up here, I don't wanna sit still for much longer than necessary."

"Agreed, I'll get the rest, see you two in a minute," Helo moved away to dismount the camp. Mei Ling stared towards Crane with disappointment.

"I knew things were too simple to be good, I guess now fate will decide it for us."

**Meanwhile...**

While Po and Paol were distracted wit each other Shen enjoyed the quite moment for himself. Ever since they left the Valley the peacock was wondering about who might have found out about the plans of the cannon production, Shen always have a personal suspicion about who could it be, but he seriously doubt about it since that person was dead. Not that he was totally sure of it.

The peacock cursed the renegade Zach since the panda's group would make one of the most distant travels deep north areas of China, hardly someone would travel through there, especially due the dangerous areas and unstable weather. Also the fact the area was far from being reached by inner market making the development of a village or city near impossible.

"Hey Shen, are you alright?" Po asked while looking back at the peacock. Shen hadn't notice the panda staring at him for quite few seconds.

"I'm fine," Shen retorted annoyed. He simply wasn't in the mood for talk, rarely Shen was lately.

"Okay, is there something you want to talk about?" The panda asked. The peacock had to admire either his silliness or stubbornness.

"Nothing to talk about, not now," Shen replied back calmly. Po didn't insist this time, that surely surprised the peacock, while being in the palace he heard a lot about how Po would bother Master Shifu with questions and requests.

"We still got a long road, you don't want to get yourself bored Shen," Paol said with a chuckle. "Talking helps to relax sometimes, and also it's a great distraction while being on the road, not that we're going through any road anyway."

"Last thing I need it's to be distracted, it's not really a good time to be taking false steps," Shen retorted severely.

"Can't say you're wrong about it, somebody has to keep an eye open in this group," Paol said that while watching Po stopping to admire a butterfly laying on a nearby tree.

"Indeed," Shen felt a bit more comfortable to be talking with this wolf. "How long have you been in the renegades?"

"Me?Just a couple years, my brother joined them four years ago, I went along more due his request. I always heard the stories about the past of the group, they were never good, but since they keep saying things changed a lot I decided to give a try. I'm not disappointed so far."

"You think they can actually beat two armies?" At this Paol was a bit confused.

"Two armies?What you mean?"

"Zach hates the emperor, I don't doubt that if the defeats Dai Lu Yan's army he will take advantage to finish what's left of the emperor's forces along with the emperor himself."

Paol felt a bit worried with that.

"I always suspected that Zach had something against him, but never really considerate deep hate. I'm really not sure what he might do after defeating Dai Lu Yan, but I just hope he can hate primary for now."

"Hey guys!Look!I found a dragonfly!" Po screamed on the back. Shen and Paol stared briefly at each other.

"If we ran out of food I'll make him eat those bugs," Shen said simply.

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait again, more to next chapter and not sure when to be coming out. Have a nice week!**


	47. Chapter 47

**A/N: Alright!I bring good news!(I guess)Charlie Barkin will be replacing me on the occasions were I won't be able to do anything for the story, since Charlie knows better than anyone what I plan to do in this one. Which means no further delays, at least not of months...**

**Chapters 48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55 and 56 are ready, but due some problems with chapter 50 it might be necessary to do some changes on future chapters.**

**And also Charlie said he's interested on doing a Rio fanfic, something I'm not looking forward to do, but since he's the one managing the account from now on...can't do nothing about it.**

**Anyway thanks for those who replied to the last update and are back with us in this new adventure. Hopefully things will keep up to expectations. Have a good week everyone, I'll come one time to other. Feel free to pm to Charlie if you want. And Charlie...behave properly.**

It's been hours since Crane, Mei Ling and Helo left the cliff where they made their first stop on their voyage. There was an air of tension in the small group since the revelations brought by the renegade eagle, not that Mei Ling or Crane believed Helo was really still was a renegade.

It's been really difficult for Crane to absorb all those impacting news, he was starting to get worried with his friends around China. They would have support of renegade warriors, but what if those renegades decided to turn against them without warning?Crane did not know how to warn the others without the message being intercepted or delivered by a renegade, they had control of the fastest ways of delivering messages or other important things.

"Maybe you should sent a friend of yours or something," Mei Ling said once Crane told about the dilemma.

"I didn't made any friends apart of the Five," Crane responded bluntly. Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, I knew Master Shifu was a tough person, but isolating you all from the world outside and only relieving you to fight seems kinda...too much."

"Well, he would never let us lose the focus on our tasks and training, anything apart of that was...like he said, 'unnecessary'."

"Ok, that's it! I can't...carry!...a cat!...along with tons!...of clothes and other things for longer! I need a break!" Helo complained loudly while losing altitude and his breath. Crane barely noticed the guilty smile that Mei Ling gave him.

Once they landed on a safe area Helo didn't waste time to relieve himself from the extra weight, of course he was enough of a gentleman to let Mei Ling come down first.

"Sorry, I forgot how exhaustive it can be for you," Mei Ling said apologetically. Helo nodded.

"It's ok,...let me...rest a bit...for now..." The eagle said while catching his breath.

In the mean time that the eagle rested Crane wandered around to check for any suspicious movement in the area, so far they haven't seen any indication that they would being followed. Mei Ling wasn't surprise since the Wu Sisters are the best stalkers that they could ever knew about on the whole story of China. After an hour of guard duty Crane came back to their temporary campsite.

"Seriously, what's with all these clothes?!Do you expect to be a whole year out?" Helo asked stunned by the number of clothes he was carrying all this time. Mei Ling was unsure of how to respond.

After eating some stocking food the mountain cat went to sleep, the couple would trust the guard duty to Helo despite recent events, something that deeply cheered the eagle a lot. Before Crane could join Mei Ling the eagle called him by the nickname.

"Hey Crane, would ya mind a nice talk before sleep?"

This definitely caught Crane's curiosity. After Crane took seat over an old branch Helo proceeded.

"I'll get a way to contact Trigger, he knows what's coming and the sooner I warn him the better it will be. I can't tell if he would say anything to your teammates, but he's the kind of person that wouldn't let the others by their own."

**Helo's P.O.V **

I watched as Crane slowly nodded at my latest concerns. In my mind a serious doubt was pondering heavily into my next topic. I never though I would have reached this far, or even that things would have led to the present circumstances.

The waterfowl probably already was having a lot to worry about, but even so I felt that I should tell him about that part of my past which I wonder if I've made something it would change everything that was happening now. Honestly I think it was for the best, at least for Crane, he probably would never met Mei Ling or become the great person he is today. Perhaps there was something called destiny after all.

"Crane..." I said while hesitating about saying the next few words that could have a great impact on the waterfowl, not that he wasn't a bit shaken already. "...there's something I should tell you about. I think it's most interesting, judging the way you see it of course."

Crane obviously seemed interested and a bit worried too.

"Hum...sure, what is it?" He asked while staring at me but staring at the outskirts of the camp with concern from time to time.

"I'm kinda older than you, you know that right?" I asked with slight sarcasm. What I did not expect was to see Crane's surprising stare.

"You are?How's that possible?"

"Are you serious?Isn't that apparent?" I replied now feeling quite better talking about my age. Perhaps I was still looking good.

"You don't see to be older than thirty something..." The waterfowl said while studying my features. I chuckled.

"Well, I'm kinda over my fifties so-

"What?!Really?"

"Yeah, I'm even older than Shen."

"Wow, how older than him you are?" Crane asked still impressed by how good I was looking despite my age.

"I would say around seven, eight years older than him. And...also I met with Shen many years ago, back at Gongmen City, but that was when he was ten years old."

I felt the deepness of the silence that followed after that. Crane obviously did not expect that kind of thing, and the waterfowl was unsure if he wanted to hear about, nothing that came from Shen's past was any of good.

"It's not a very long story, but quite interesting in my point of view," I said hoping that Crane wouldn't mind me telling such. He didn't.

"Go ahead, tell me what happened. But at that age Shen's parents were there, right?" He asked with a frown.

"At the start not really, but they came. It was a bit...how can I say?...hum...unexpected to see who they were, and how they were. Let's get to that...

**Forty years ago... **

_I was walking across the town of Gongmen City filled with hopes that I could find a good job in here, the city was a huge commercial spot and had a lot of people from different places from all over China. I was with high expectations that it would be easy to find a place to work here. Iv'e always heard good things about the city._

_The job was most a necessity at the moment than just having something to do, after all I was living in China for only three months and the money here was different from the one in Japan, also their ways to live were much different from what I expected._

_After walking for a couple of hours I took a sit to rest a bit, the place wasn't very crowded today, which was unusual._

_I was seventeen years old but already seemed like an adult eagle, something that came in hand a couple of times when I felt I would get into trouble._

_It was getting late, the sunset could be seeing at distance but already overcome by the buildings and houses from where I was sitting at. Then I heard something next to me._

_I turned around to see something small and white walking nearby, it wasn't hard for me to recognize him as a little avian. What stunned me was the color of his feathers. Not that white was unusual, but I never seen or heard about white peacocks before._

_The kid stood there watching me with suspicious and a bit afraid. He wouldn't stop looking around as if he expected someone to show up at any moment and take him away._

_"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, are you lost?" I asked gently while watching him looking around nervously._

_"No sir, I'm just waiting for my parents," The kid replied more calmly than I would expect. This made me a bit confuse._

_"Waiting for your parents?Here?Alone?That's interesting, but this is not really a place to be, are you sure you wanna stay here and wait for them?It can be dangerous to be at the streets so late by yourself," I said while getting up and coming next to the kid. He got nervous when he saw me coming at him, my size would easily scare anyone._

_"Hum...I guess...but they told me to stay here..." The little peacock said unsure of what to do._

_"Ok, I guess it won't be hard to find them, they're peacocks, right?"_

_"Yes sir,"_

_"Okay, let's go find them. How about that?"_

_After a moment of silence the peacock slowly nodded. I carefully caught him and placed over my shoulders while keeping him balanced with my wings. He was incredibly lighter than I though._

_"So what's the name of your parents anyway?" I asked gently, but for my surprise the kid didn't respond to that simple question. After thinking harder for few minutes I came up with another question. "So, do you have a name?Or should I just call you kid?"_

_"My name's Shen, Shen Kuang," The kid replied calmly. I smiled happy that I got an answer for that one._

_"Kuang?Sounds familiar for me, can't remember how..." I said while checking the alleys for any adult peacocks walking around. _"My name's Helo, Helo Gotsu."__

_"You won't find my parents on the streets so easily, you should try the tower," The kid said with some nervousness. I frowned._

_"The tower?Isn't that were the royalty of this city lives?" _

_"It is, my parents are important people," _

_At this I was starting to feel uneasy, if this kid was so important and came from royalty I seriously doubt he would be left off hanging on the streets by his own._

_"Ok, we'll try there," _

_I made my way to the tower, which took way longer than I expect, in the path I went across few citizens, all of them staring at me weirdly, but for some reason I felt it wasn't me they were staring at, but Shen._

_After finally reaching the tower after going through a sea of inquisitive stares I knocked at the huge wooden door. At the first seconds I got no response, but then a goat came out from a secondary door nearby._

_"Do you request to talk with anyone inside stranger?" He asked without much sympathy._

_"Yeah, I came here cause the kid said I could find his parents here," I said while indicating the peacock on my back. The goat's face went blank. After few seconds he recovered himself._

_"I-I-I'll be right back!" He said with an urgent tone while getting inside quickly. I raised an eyebrow. Such exaggerated reaction..._

_I slowly placed the kid on the ground. He stared at me with curiosity._

_"Do you live here?" He asked. I chuckled._

_"No, I live far away, I'm just passing through here, if I get job I might stay, if not I'll leave for another city." Shen lowered his head at sadness which surprised me._

_"I wish you could stay, we could be great friends," _

_"I guess so, I would like to," I replied gently as possible._

_"I don't have any friends...mom and dad never let me go out much," _

_Ok, this kid is making me sad too. _

_"Why not?Do they worry with your safety too much?" _

_The way the kid stared at me totally mean it had nothing to do with it._

_"No, it's because I'm..." Shen hesitated, apparently very doubtful about keep talking._

_"Because you're what?" I asked frowning a bit. I had a vague idea of what could be._

_"I'm...white," _

_Short and simple, but silly in a way, he was just a kid after all. I frowned harder. _

_"Just because you're different doesn't mean your parents should be ashamed of you, such thing is ridiculous to think about, but you got out today, did you made any friendship?" I asked while being sorry for the kid._

_"Yes, I did!" Shen said cheering up quickly. I smiled._

_"Nice, who?" I asked, he stared at me confused._

_"You." _

_Ah...wasn't expecting that, but he was right about it. Before I could say anything else the huge doors opened slowly making an echoing noise that made me cringe on the inside. There was standing an adult peacock, clearly a female judging by the appearance, especially the color of her feathers and the facial expression. She only could be Shen's mother._

_If was expecting relief or happy reactions from her I must have hit my head hard somewhere, her face was nothing but pure frustration and disappointment._

_It was incredible how that clear frustration dissipated from her face as she came towards us being replaced by a clear faked smile._

_"Shen!My son I'm glad you're safe, thank you so much for bringing him back my dear." _

_Could she be more false than she sounded?I was astonished._

_"I'm glad to be of help, he's a nice kid. I wonder how he got lost," I said clearly expecting to receive an incredible made up excuse, but surprisingly she said nothing about that._

_"Mom..." Shen called with clear anxiety. She did nothing but ignore him._

_"Well, I'm not sure how to thank you, hum...it's there anything you would want or-_

_"Mom..."_

_"What?!" She said getting angry quickly. I couldn't blame the kid for staring at the ground frightened. Poor Shen._

_"Actually, there's something..." I said with an idea in mind. That took off the undesirable attention Shen's mom was giving to her son."...I would like to see Shen more often, I'm looking for a place to work here, I wouldn't mind to know him better and share some stories one time or another." _

_That totally took the female peacock off her mood. She seemed totally upset._

_"Urgh...well, I guess so...you seem to be of trust...I'm not like leaving my son walking around with strangers..."_

_No, you prefer to leaving him on a desert street I guess. I saw the glee on Shen's eyes when I told about my proposal. _

_"Very well, again thank you very much for coming and bringing him back, get inside Shen and take a bet," She said 'spiritedly' enough for the kid to obey without saying a single word._

_"Alright, see you tomorrow Shen!" I said before the doors closed. After that I walked away without looking back. I promised to remind myself to not look for job at the tower."Poor kid." _

**End Flashback **

Crane kept staring at me thoughtfully, at first he was amaze that I had a connection with Shen's past, and now he was very curious to know how far I took that connection.

"How comes that Shen didn't recognize you?" Crane asked clearly trying to take some wonders away.

"I doubted he would anyway, it's been a very long time, and I changed a lot, except for size. Besides there's quite few other eagles out there. Once I finish the whole story you'll now why he simply don't remember me, and if he does I'm not sure if would be a good thing." I said while staring at the fire, it was really dark and a bit cold this night, but expected since they were moving through mountains.

"Why didn't you told Shen it was you?You saw him plenty of times at the Jade Palace." I sighed.

"Wasn't a really good time to do that, too much crazy happening at that moment, and I don't think it would be a good idea to remember about friends long forgotten from the past, especially a past that Shen wants more than anything to put behind."

That made Crane uneasy, probably remembering the time he yelled at Shen about the peacock killing hs parents, though he had not clear evidence Shen did that, only Shifu's word.

"Crane, when you lost your parents, how did you turn around yourself?I mean, you were a kid at that time," I asked while stretching out my wings a bit. Crane chuckled darkly.

"That's another long story, but not telling about it today, maybe tomorrow at night." Crane said getting up to join Mei Ling at the barrack.

"Alright, have a good se...sleep," I said unintentionally.

It's so funny to see Crane getting flustered.

**A/N: Have a good week!**


	48. Chapter 48

**A/N: Ok guys and girls...it's official...this fic has been going for over 2 years. I'm ending Forgotten Hope at chapter 60. The rest eventually will come in a sequel. Overall 120 chapters in 2 stories. I need to take a break from this one, can't really do much into it for any longer. Enjoy.**

"I think we're lost,"

"Not at all, I'm pretty sure is this way!"

"That's what you said yesterday, Po..."

"I'm telling you I'm pretty sure is this way."

"Do you even have a map?"

"Shen's right, we should check on a map if you have one,"

Po sighed on defeat, the last hours have become quite tense for him to handle. He truly didn't believe they were lost, just taking a longer road to their destination.

"Ok, look. I have a map that Zach gave me before we left, I'm sure it has everything we need to reach to where we need to go at."

"Can we check the map then?" Paol asked between short coughs. They were running through an old road at night and it was quite cold. He didn't felt comfortable at all despite his long fur that was failing at protecting him from such decreasing temperature.

"Here," Po said handling the wolf a small scroll. Both Paol and Shen leaned forward to take a look.

"Uh...Po," Paol said while trying to understand what exactly he was looking at.

"Yeah?"

"What this map relates about?"

"The location of one of the factories, that's what Zach said at least."

"That can't be right panda, this map just lead us to the same place where Crane's group is suppose to go," The peacock said with a slight frown.

"What?!Really?But...I don't get it. Why he would send us to the same place through a different and longer road?Doesn't make sense," Po said while at shock by how they were fooling around to get at the same place as other group.

"No, it doesn't..." Paol said more to himself than anything. The wolf always trusted Zach's strange way to be sometimes, but this kind of stuff was not something he would do out of the plan without a very good reason. There was no logic strategy to it, unless...

"I think the number of factories is way less than were made us to believe, perhaps there's only three of them instead of that half-dozen."

"What?Then why splitting us in such small groups?" Shen asked judging this kind of strategy as really stupid.

"Maybe..." Paol hesitated.

"Maybe what?" Po said feeling concerned.

"Maybe Zach planned this as a safety measure in the case the first group fails, or in other words...they die."

"What?!That guy really believes that Crane and Mei Ling can die doing this?!Then why not sending more people together make a stronger group?" The panda was visibly confused and a bit angry.

"I don't know Po," Paol said with a heavy sigh. "I don't get it, it's weird, but if we need to go to the same spot I suggest we look for Crane's group first. Helo is with them, he's of great trust, don't worry."

While Paol was busy trying to make Po feel more relaxed about their current situation Shen took time for his own to think about the recent events.

They were save by a renegade mysterious group, and also the fact they fought a huge battle against an imperial battalion without second thoughts was quite...unnerving. What they possibly gain by saving the Valley?What they were really aiming for? The peacock knew better by personal experience that going out an all out war against the Chinese Empire would have great consequences unless you had something that would guarantee you the great possibility of victory.

In Shen's case that possibility was nothing else than his precious weapon of doom. But that part of his plan was ruined thanks to the Dragon Warrior. Now China's fate was to be decided by a bunch of rebels coming out of nowhere, and atop of that you also had Dai Lu Yan plotting against his own father for the throne.

Dai Lu Yan was nothing but a fool that choose the wrong moment to take that long step. Shen was angry at how Dai Lu Yan somehow found about his cannons, but it was impossible he could have made them without the scrolls containing the schematics for the production of it. How Dai Lu Yan figure it out was something that simply Shen couldn't let go of his mind since they left the Valley.

Also another thing that has been bothering him was the, in Shen's point of view, premature accuse that the peacock killed the waterfowl's parents many years ago.

"I didn't do it," Shen said to himself as if that would convince him of such. Though Po and Paol managed to heard that.

"Did what?" Paol asked raising an eyebrow at the peacock. Shen had to blink a few times to make himself let go out of that trance of deep thoughts.

"Nothing, we should get going already, how far you think we are from the other group?"

It was a good thing Shen asked that, Paol was getting a bit nervous with Po's immaturity to handle boredom. The panda was complaining about a lot of things by the last five minutes.

"I don't know, they may be way ahead of us since they got two avians on their group and I'm sure Helo wouldn't mind carrying Mei Ling around. Perhaps they have like a day advantage over us. If we really want to reach them before they get to the factory we need to speed up,"

Shen frowned slightly.

"What?" Paol said not understanding his reaction.

"Do you really think we can speed up with the panda in our group?" Shen asked as if was the most simple question in the world. Paol grunted.

"Well, if you could fly I'm sure we could get someone to contact the other group. But since you are 'a good for nothing' at the moment I think we'll have to handle on our own as we are now."

Shen pretended he didn't hear the insult, but still he felt his inside burning at deep hate.

_"I'll show you who's the 'good for nothing' you bloody wolf" _

**Meanwhile...**

Tigress and Fenghuang were still having a difficult time to stand each others presence. It seemed the two female warriors were unable to stand thirty meters nearby the other without glaring daggers.

Yallin, who was trying his best to ignore that great lack of team sympathy, just remained focused on the path they should travel to make sure they wouldn't get lost. Something that barely happened in several occasions due both women having quite loudly discussions that would simply drive the renegade crazy at any moment.

_"And I thought that hearing Trigger yelling at the others when he was angry was bad enough."_ Yallin though while he prepared himself mentally for another round of discussions that was about to erupt at any second.

It was becoming very clear as time went by that Tigress wouldn't accept the re-admission of Fenghuang at the Jade Palace. No matter what Master Shifu would say and how pointless he would try to make her anger towards this subject, she would not go along with it. It was already crazy and careless enough to allow Shen to live at the same place as them, now Fenghuang?Who's next?Dai Lu Yan?

The Owl was taking every slash of anger that Tigress was throwing at her the best she could, the only reason(s)that kept her from charge with everything at the feline was very simple. She really wanted to make part of the Five again. She really wanted to live the previous life she had, day after day she thought about, but never believed anyone would actually forgive her for that betrayal.

But mostly thanks for Crane's foolish but brave decision she might now have a chance to set things right again. Perhaps this time she won't let things drive her to the wrong way. Especially now that she truly believed that things changed at the Jade Palace. Maybe now she can live the life she always wanted.

Yallin had another concern in mind for the moment while waiting for another pointless discussions to erupt. He carefully kept checking the map to make sure the group would keep in route, but as they progressed he slowly realized they were taking a path similar to Trigger's group, which doesn't make sense. Why they would take a path another group was in already?Didn't Zach prevented this from happening?Unless...

Before Yallin could take any conclusions Fenghuang and Tigress broke into another loud exchange of ideas and concepts. The renegade was getting seriously annoyed with the two female warriors.

**Meanwhile...**

"And I got drunk once, but I never really managed to remember what I did after that,"

Trigger was traveling along Mantis and Monkey. It's been quite fun and entertaining for the Hawk ,something he did not expect. The two kung fu warriors were quite fun to talk with and they had a lot of crazy stories to share.

They've been traveling for a day only and managed to get themselves into trouble two times already. The first being a misunderstanding with a group of Rhinos when crossing through a small village, the second being almost getting killed by a group of kidnappers that tend to travel across the region. None of them were match for the skill of the kung fu masters despite how dangerous they would tend to be. Trigger mostly just sat back and watched.

"You never said much about yourself and how you got into this whole renegade association," Mantis pointed out after they finished remembering odd situations they were getting involved lately.

"Hum...not that I would say it often...I tend to keep a lot for myself," Trigger replied with a mischievous grin. "Perhaps one say I'll tell about my past, but just after we clear from this conflict."

"I hope we get a chance to go across Ghang Zu, I heard the ladies there are the top prettiest you can find by this areas," Monkey said, his voice filled with hope. Trigger and Mantis chuckled.

"You got that right, I just hope the others are doing fine," Mantis said while jumping across the terrain.

**Meanwhile...**

"Who are you?"

"Please tell me this isn't happening..."

"Calm down Mei Ling, perhaps it's a collateral effect, we don't know for sure," Helo said while preventing Crane from running away and he had a good reason for it.

Apparently Crane was having a back-down from his amnesia incident. Not only he forgot a lot of things again but he forgot way more than before. They only noticed something was wrong when Crane suddenly wasn't among them and kept behind like a statue. Then when he panicked was when Helo came to block his escape route.

"Miss, what's going on?Do you know where are my parents?" Crane asked again, his voice sounded weak. Mei Ling came to believe that Jien was living throughout the memories of his childhood. She seriously doubt she wanted to find out more.

"I do not know dear, but don't worry, we'll take care of you," The mountain cat said on the most motherly way as possible. She would need to treat Crane as a youngling, wouldn't be easy, she never went through such before. The waterfowl seemed more concerned about Helo due his size.

"I feel weird, and very tired," He said while looking down at himself. "And also I don't think it's been that long since I took a bath.

Mei ling chuckled at that remark. Crane was judging his appearance as being dirty instead of really older than he was.

"What we're going to do?I don't think I can keep this journey treating Crane as a child, and more thus the fact he's a child somehow," Helo whispered to Mei Ling with some urgency. The mountain cat was extremely apprehensive.

"I don't know, I'll think on som-

"Did you saw the Owl lady, miss?" Crane asked with a saddened expression. Mei Ling blinked at confusion.

"Owl lady?" The cat asked not really understating what Crane meant by that.

"She's been helping me to search for my mom and dad, I've been with her for few days. She takes care of me, but she said she wouldn't see me for few days and for me to find a way to take care of my own for a while. She would be back today but I didn't saw her yet. You saw an Owl anywhere?"

Mei Ling and Helo were intrigue. An Owl took care of Crane after the incident with his parents?How so?

"What was her name?" Mei Ling asked gently. Crane only got even more sad with that question.

"I don't know, she never told me. Also I never saw her face clearly, she was always using a cape of sorts...she sounded really young but not as me, I think. And she had purple feathers."

Mei Ling felt it was much of a coincidence to be true. Would it be...?

"Impossible," Helo said as if he was thinking the same thing as the mountain cat. "It's really hard to believe it would be her."

"What?" Crane asked not understanding what the eagle was talking about. Before Helo could correct himself Mei Ling spoke for him.

"It's nothing dear. You said you were looking for your parents?"

"Yes, it's been days since they left, but they only said they would travel to a distant village and for me to not get out home, but that was days ago. I was starving and went out the street, the Owl lady found me after I fainted since I wasn't strong enough...I was hungry and tired...after I finally woke up again she took me with her and helped me ever since."

"She never told you where she came from, or where she lived?" Mei Ling asked now earning a questioning glare from Helo.

"No..." Was all that Crane said lowering his head at disappointment of how little he knew about the Owl.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you. For now let's find a place to stay and get to know each other better," Before the cat could gather her things Helo came to her side with extreme concern.

"What you think you doing?We have a mission, we can just stop and have childhood talks as if nothing important is happening."

Was he censuring her behavior?

"This is important, I wanna know what happened during his childhood. I want to find the true. I love him and I just can't stand seeing Crane being in pain because of his past for longer than I already am," Mei Ling retorted angrily. "You wanna go ahead?Fine, but I won't leave him, especially not now that he's in such state."

Helo couldn't find any good arguments to keep that discussion on track so he merely shut it. After the cat finally went to take her belongings she gently have her hand for Crane to hold it. Anyone else would see as a couple's gesture, but the bizarre situation was far from being that.

"What's your name sweetie?" Mei Ling asked to the crane though she knew already.

"Huang...Huang Jien,"

"Nice to meet you Huang, I'm Mei Ling,"

"Where we going?" Crane asked.

"Get a nice place to sleep, we need to rest after this long trip, you wanna something special for dinner?"

_'She isn't so bad...would be a great mother...' _Helo though while watching the conversation between the other two develop, Crane was getting more comfortable around them.

"I wonder why I feel so tired..." Crane said after a pause. "...and my legs feel really numb."

"Wouldn't be because of the bumping at night," Helo said without thinking. While Crane raised and eyebrow Mei Ling gave the Eagle a really strong punch at this back.

"Now be quiet and behave yourself," She said annoyed.

"Miss Mei Ling, what bumping at night means?" Crane asked.

"Urgh...one day I'll tell you Huang,"

**A/N: Have a good week.**


	49. Chapter 49

**A/N: It's good to be back!I've noticed some rather "interesting" reviews for the last chapter, if someone has something to say about this fic at all please just have some dignity and say it by your account instead of using anom's to spread your nonsense. If you have something to complain about this fic just go ahead and tell my mom how much of a prankster I'm being lately...whatever. I'm not wasting my time to prove anything, the way things went with this fic is just the way they went. My only thing in here is to make chapters and update them, that's it. Whatever comes after that is not my problem. I take kindly comments and suggestions, critics, some offenses. BUT DON'T YOU COME AT ME WITH THAT CRANE/VIPER PO/TIGRESS POPULARITY BULLSHIT AGAIN!I don't give a goddamn about popularity. I rather avoid the "usual" to have a more interesting story to tell. You don't think that way?I'm sorry for you, get back to the usual reading then. I have more to do than read such ignorant comments.**

**Now to the replies! **

**TheWhisperingWarrior:**_ I'm soooooooooooo happy to see you again! :) It's been a long time and I'm sorry for the delay. And I'm very thankful to you for the support and the fact you're still reading the story. :3_

**maricielo717**: _Thank you and you're very welcome! :D Sorry for the long wait, been having troubles this past months._

**leaderkiller000**: _I really don't have enough words to express my gratitude towards your following and support to this story!I'm really honored. Thank you, and sorry for the waiting._

**Glittering Turquoise**: _Thank you and very welcome to the story!_

**Anoynymousrules:**_ I'm glad to see you around yet man, thanks for the support as always, I mean it._

**Guest:**_...I'll try to be a bit more fair to you than I would be with Tekken, especially because I don't know if it's the same person supporting his own opinion..._

_This fic wasn't centered like it is now. It was way different, it just changed along the path. At that time fics related with Lord Shen were blowing all over the archive, so I made a fic centered on Crane/Shen, perhaps I brought Mei Ling too soon at the start, which I regret just a bit. I was over the edge about making Crane/Shen or Crane/Mei Ling. As for PoxTigress...well, everybody knows how this is a delicate subject and I don't think how I can be original when it comes about the two of them since there are thousands of fics about the two already. Some are quite similar to others. I wanted to make a love triangle at the start with Crane/Viper/Mei Ling, but them this another delicate subject and I don't want to get anyone upset, especially Crane/Viper fans, I wanted to be fair as possible BECAUSE I CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE, ITS IMPOSSIBLE._

_But I tried, also I couldn't forget that I needed to keep Shen in the spotlights since this isn't centered about Crane/Mei Ling, it never was. The story changed along the way, it may be centered now but no guarantee that it will keep that way for the next 72 chapters!That would be boring!(sequel included)I made this in a way it won't be centered on anyone longer than necessary, but this is still my first fic and I needed to get this to MAKE SENSE!It takes time to put the pieces on the right place before I start moving them, and I'm finally managing to do that and take away the centered a bit, but I can't just go ahead without being upset with such comments about a very unfinished story that took longer than it should CAUSE ITS DELAYED FOR OVER 10 MONTHS!_

_So sorry if I'm being an as-hole but just let me finish this LOoooooonnnnngggg story then you can come again and say whatever you want. But until then just leave me alone and work in this. It's doesn't matter how many reviews it has, it doesn't matter who the main characters are, just the fact you liked it or not is enough._

_Shen/Fenghuang crack ship...omfg, if Shen is actually dead then any fic with a pairing involving him would be such as you say, so...dúh!_

_And you're lucky it's me saying this Guest...if it was Charlie he would just tell for you to go f***& yourself...so try to be more fair next time. _

"Master, is this the right direction?I think we should be by Han Zei by now..."

"On that I agree with you Viper, perhaps we took another route without realizing."

"How long til Masters Rhino and Croc get to us?"

"Hum...hard to say, they were already having difficulties with Yan's troops over the passage of Jangzhi. If they managed to get thorough we'll be meeting them by morning," The red panda replied while positioning himself on a meditative state. Master Shifu and Viper have been traveling along for quite some time, the renegade traveling along with them, Ryskin, has been very oddly quiet.

"Are you worried about your brother?" Viper asked noticing how concerned the wolf was while staring at the empty darkness of the night. He didn't stared back but replied.

"Just a bit, we never been this far and away for so long from each-other. It's...odd."

"Were you two traveling together for that long?" The snake slowly circled around herself while approaching of the warm air produced by the campfire they made a couple hours ago. She didn't feel comfortable with anything that would make her colder, like being on open air late at night.

"Not really, just after we joined the renegades, but it's been for quite a long time for us to get used to be in the presence of the other quite often."

"Why did you joined their cause?"

"..."

"Ryskin?" Viper was worried she might have asked to much. The wolf sighed heavily.

"We...lost too much...to have anything else to rely on...that is much as I can tell you for now," He said while letting his view sight lose itself again in distance.

"I see...I'm sorry," Ryskin chuckled.

"Don't worry, a lot of us had similar experiences, not all were lucky enough to find another home. I heard some of the Furious Five also had hard times in their past too. Were you one of them?"

This question caught Viper by surprise. No. Unlike Tigress, Monkey, Crane, and Po she really didn't have that much of a tragic experience.

"Well...Tigress, Crane, Po...they lost their families when they were really young...I guess they would be the lucky ones in our group."

"I see," Ryskin stared at her at deep thought. "Did they ever tried to find out what came of their parents?"

Viper was purely confused.

"What?"

"Did they tried to find their relatives?Or were they really sure they were long dead?" "

"Uh..."

Now this was a tricky question, how was Viper supposed to know something that was obviously a very personal question to be made for the people really involved into it?

"I really don't know, perhaps Po did few weeks ago at Gongmen, can't be sure about the others..."

"I understand. Who knows?Maybe this would be a great opportunity to get some clues, we're traveling all across China anyway."

"Perhaps, I can't tell for sure, what you think Master Shifu?"

Viper directed the question to her Master purposefully, she always had a bit of doubt if Shifu would allow any of his students to find more about their respective pasts.

"I'm not sure if would be the best idea, at least not for all of them," The red panda said as if he felt that topic was somewhat cursed.

Before Viper could ask what he really meant by that Ryskin made her keep the silence as the best option for the moment. The renegade had an idea of what Shifu really meant and moving into a deeper area about this topic wouldn't make things better.

**Meanwhile... **

"This is ridiculous!How can we get watch ourselves while having to take care of a child?It's too dangerous to keep him with us Mei Ling!"

Of course that it didn't took long enough for Helo to start raging over the mountain cat cause he simply couldn't let go of the fact they _were_ in actual danger thanks to Crane's state of mind. Mei Ling's answer was not even near polite.

"And what are we supposed to do?!Abandon him?!Let him on the road!?Is that what you want?!" Mei Ling yells would've made even Master Tigress shiver. Poor Crane was nearby watching terrified the discussion.

"Of course not!But we can't keep like this since we know the Wu Sisters are right on our tracks, we can't keep risking ourselves!"

"Them you got any suggestions?!TELL ME!" She was this close of giving the eagle a beat he wouldn't forget.

"Let him with someone of your trust, you've been all around China before, there isn't anyone you might know here somewhere?" Helo asked while trying to calm down a bit and also the feline.

"I don't!I can't trust anyone else for such, it's too much of a risky. What happens if Crane gets back to normal and wonders why we left him behind with a stranger?!"

"Please don't leave me," Crane begged being, undoubtedly, too scared to be alone with another stranger. Mei Ling made her decision.

"Okay, Helo, if you're such a chicken you can leave, I don't care," The cat said nonchalantly.

Big mistake.

The huge approached very menacingly towards the mountain cat, his eyes revealing a cold, murderous glare she never saw before.

"Call me that again...and you will find your tail stuck in a hole of yours."

...

...

"Why him the way he is concerns you so much?" The mountain cat finally asked after recovering from the very unpleasant threat. Helo took few minutes to stare away from her, his cold glare lasted hours before disappearing after that moment.

"Many years ago I decided to watch over a kid...a decision I regret for the rest of my live and sworn to myself I would never take care of a child again."

"Shen?What did you do about him?" Mei Ling asked now being intrigued. Helo scoffed. She probably overheard him and Crane during that night.

"Don't ask!I won't give you an answer. Not of anyone's concern."

"Jerk," Mei Ling said but just for herself to hear. Crane was shaking behind her. He sure wouldn't be getting close of Helo for a long time.

**Meanwhile...**

"Ladies, I don't know about you but I'm really got the feeling we're going the wrong way." Yallin said after consulting his map for the third time in less than a minute.

Fenghuang and Tigress shared a quick glance at him.

"How so?We should be around Juang Zhen by this very moment..." Tigress said as if it wasn't really important.

"Then how come we are not?" Yallin retorted. Tigress merely snorted. He had a point.

"Okay, so where are we?" Fenghuang asked calmly. Yallin just stared at her with clear nervousness.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?How comes our guide doesn't know where we at?" Tigress was annoyed.

"Don't ask me, this map is useless, I think I'll take something else to orient myself," Yallin responded without caring much about Tigress questioning.

"This path seems familiar to me..." Fenghuang spoke but without anyone in particular. Yallin raised an eyebrow.

"You've been here before?"

"I can really remember, but perhaps I did...only moving on will help me to remember."

**Meanwhile...**

In the mean time the warriors where traveling Renegades forces were engaged in a fierce battle against Dai Lu Yan's army and the Imperial troops. The battle was taking place at the outskirts of the Imperial Valley.

Apparently Dai Lu Yan did not expected to find so much extra resistance and it didn't took long for him to find out he was fighting against another opponent. It infuriated him extremely since this totally blew his chance to overrun the Imperial army in a single strike, and now his troops were taking heavy looses from this unknown enemy.

What surprise him most was the fact that the Imperial army was also under attack by this new enemy. Dai Lu Yan was most interested on knowing what this new possible threat was after, what was their goal. Perhaps he could try to get them to help him.

Dai Lu Yan was hopefully eluded. The Renegades just came to destroy them both.

Zach had brilliantly coordinated his troops to trap the Imperial army inside the Valley and Dai's troops to be stuck by the edge of the main river.

While the battle took place for endless hours the Renegade leader was concerned if the groups he dispatched to prevent Dai Lu Yan to bring his weapons of mass destruction would succeed.

**Meanwhile... **

"I knew it!We're lost!" Paol yelled frustrated as they, without knowing, reached the beginning of the same road the Crane's group was in. "What's this place?I don't think it's here we're supposed to be."

"Chill out, I'm sure we'll find a place to ask for directions, maybe this map is not really accurate..." Po said while checking again to make sure.

"Let's just keep moving, I don't waste more time out here, we should look for a village and to rest. I refuse to spent more than a minute sleeping on the ground." Shen mumbled irritated.

"Sounds good, I really wouldn't mind sleeping on a bed after so long," Paol responded approving the peacock's complain.

"So...where now?" The panda asked unsure of what to do.

"We go ahead and stop at the first village we find, we got better information and maybe a guide to help us. We do know where to go, through where we should go is the problem." Paol said sympathetically. Shen is was acting rather childish lately, even more than Po. Which wasn't an easy effort.

"I guess...hopefully we won't have any trouble before we get there."

**A/N: Short chapter cause things might get messy soon. And pls Mr, Guest. Avoid the unhappy review or yours next time.**


	50. Chapter 50

**A/N: Hi everyone!I'm back, thankfully I manage to get another update this week. Phew. To the replies.**

Crown Prince of Horror;

_I'm really happy and thankful for seeing you again! :D It's been a long time huh?Yeah, I'm sorry for that...had problems, lots of them...sadistic?!Nah...maybe. [:. _

_Anyway I'm pretty sure I'll clear out more about Shen and Crane's past as the story goes, just takes time. I'm taking more than I should have..._

**Alpha tiger;**

_Thanks for the kind reviews, I'm also thankful for you to keep up with he story. Many thanks._

Charlie ;

_Sorry about that Charlie, got some stuff out of the way first, didn't have much to on add in it._

**Tekken, Guest;**

._..well, I'll give a second chance. I forgive you both about that, no hard feelings or anything. I don't think it's unnatural for such to happen. It's happens with many stories out there anyway. So let's end that here, shall we? :P Nice, hope to see you around on the future._

"This is ridiculous."

"You said that like forty times already..."

"Then I'll keep saying for more forty, you got a problem with that?"

"Nope."

While Fenghuang and Tigress kept exchanging their 'love' towards each other Yallin was busy studying the environment around them. Nothing out of the ordinary as hills, rivers, tress, and a very beautiful sunset. The fact that was getting dark again made him a bit frustrated. He totally could have a guess where they would be by learning the scenario for a bit longer.

"Maybe we should go look for other group, maybe they will have a better idea where they're going, right?" The Owl asked straight to Yallin. The renegade shrugged.

"Who knows?I'm having doubts if they got anything clear to rely on instead of us. They might be going throughout the same situation as we are."

"Then we should go back?" Yallin frowned. That was an option, but for some reason he really wasn't having good feeling about doing such.

"Not yet, not till we know where we are exactly. Let's keep going following that road that goes by the river down the hill on east, then we might get a chance to find a village or something nearby. I don't want to get caught in the open by any dangerous threat."

At this Tigress raised an eyebrow. What could be possibly more dangerous than herself?

"Such as?..." Fenghuang asked by pure curiosity. Yallin hesitated before saying anything.

"Hum...well, I got plenty of ideas when it comes to dangerous situations you can get yourself into while traveling. But this place...it has something weird about it, and I heard stories...of people that disappeared for no apparent reason. They say this place is haunted by an evil creature of darkness."

If Yallin wasn't talking so seriously and pretended that was just a joke he would've just laughed at Tigress and Fenghuang expressions.

"What you talking about?If I get it right we're at the Valley of the Yellow River. Nothing really weird ever happened here before. Master Shifu never received any request of help or anything that would might indicate criminal activity in this region," Tigress said at pure disbelief. Everything Yallin said sounded purely as a lame story to scare children.

The renegade took that seriously.

"I actually had friends that went missing while going in here before, we tried our best but we never found them, whatever happens in this place is something no one can control. Last thing I want is to stay out here at the dark. You might think there's nothing but I learned by past experiences to be aware of this Valley. Whatever goes here...is unnatural," Yallin's voice became harsh and severe instantly while saying that.

Fenghuang could feel a bit of fear emanating from him. Whatever happened here...it was something they wouldn't want to experience personally.

"Unnatural?What could possibly be?There's nothing here that would be much bigger than a Rhino or Gorilla." Fenghuang said not buying the story at all.

"There is, just because you don't see or saw something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I'm telling you there's something off about this Valley, always was. But nobody really bothered to check it out, and those few who did...never came back. And only their relatives would know that." Yallin was getting a bit upset by how much of ignorance the two woman were displaying at him.

"What would it be then?This place has a great view from pretty much the whole region?It can't be really big, and I doubt something smaller than an elephant can really concern me," Tigress said totally convinced of herself.

"Heh, nobody said it has to be day for it to act, darkness is his favorite environment, and who knows the shape of such monstrous?Creatures of darkness they call it, or them, cause nobody can be sure if there's more than one," Yallin said with an evil grin.

"There's no such thing as creatures of darkness, you just being ridiculous," Tigress said before turning around to keep moving. Right after she said that they heard the most creepiness thing ever.

It sound like a growl but then more like a distant roar, it came so clear as if was next to them echoing by the whole place as a haunted voice of a cursed spirit. The spooky sound came carried along with a terrible yell that just send chills thorough their spines.

"Okay...what was that?" Tigress asked. This time she was actually acting very differently than before that sinister noise.

"I don't know," Fenghuang felt extremely tense. "What do you think Yallin?...Yallin?"

The Owl turned around to see the renegade running on the opposite direction from where the noise probably came from, he was good two hundred meters away already.

Both Tigress and Fenghuang eavesdropped.

"I guess staying alive must mean more than keeping dignity in this situation," Tigress said with a hint of sarcasm. Fenghuang chuckled. That was the first time both females agreed on something.

Again they heard the same roar, but this time louder. Both females stayed put where they were. Unlikely Yallin the kung fu warriors wouldn't let stories scare them away. Even so Fenghuang had to admit this situation was rather bothersome. It as very dark and who knows what kind of creature they would be dealing with. The ground shake at the rhythmic of what sounded like huge footsteps.

The noise became so clear at each footstep that was shaking the ground. Both warriors stared behind the little mass of tress that was covering part of the road. Whatever it was it was coming from there. They could heard branches cracking at distance, the sound of bushes and leaves being pushed with ferocity.

Then all of sudden it stopped. Tigress and Fenghuang braced themselves for the momentum. More bushes moving nearby, the females stand on fighting stances waiting for it to come out...then...then...

"What?!" Tigress got dumbfounded at what came out of the bushes. "A squirrel?"Seriously?Pffff," The tiger moved forward to grab it.

"Tigress, I don't think..." Fenghuang started but right after something massive came down smashing the little poor creature. Tigress jumped backwards surprised by that unexpected income. Fenghuang, that had a better view of what happened, was at shock of what stood in front of them.

"By the gods..."

The darkness of the night didn't denied the owl the terrifying sight of the huge creature. The eyes, the tail, the legs...the wings...

As if noticing her presence the mythical reptilian stared at her before having his face suddenly glowing for no apparent reason. Took a moment for Fenghuang to understand what he was about to do.

"Oh no,...Tigress, RUN!"

**Meanwhile...**

"I swear I heard something,"

"What you talking about?I didn't heard anything,"

"Me neither."

"Really?I could sworn I heard a growl or something like that," Trigger said while looking away at distance, it was getting darker each second but it was still possible to see the hills and mountains far away.

"Perhaps you heard Tigress getting upset with someone," Monkey joked. Mantis chuckled.

"I don't doubt that, let's get back on road, it's getting cold out here."

"Alr...wait!Look!" Trigger said pointing. Both Mantis and Monkey stared at the indicated direction. What they saw seemed like a very bright flash of light that illuminated the hills around it for few seconds. "What was that?"

"I dunno...an explosion?" Mantis suggested.

"Do you think that might be Dai Lu Yan's troops?" Monkey asked.

"What they would be doing here?" Trigger responded as if that was unlikely.

"Maybe transporting cannons?Maybe they had an incident?" Mantis said supporting Monkey's opinion.

"Hum...maybe. We wouldn't know for sure if we don't check it out. It would be really lame if we let them pass by us like that," Trigger said convinced.

"How the hell we get there?It seemed really far, it's getting dark and we probably would lose them if we try to reach by foot," Mantis asked being doubtful.

"Well, I'll give you two a ride," Trigger said with a chuckled. "Good thing you two are light, will make it way easier."

"You sure?" Monkey asked. The hawk was carrying a lot of stuff.

"Just get up already."

**Meanwhile... **

Crane's group reached at a small village near a lake. The place wasn't really glamorous but had an establishment were they could spent the night. After making a check in they quickly got to their rooms.

"Well, is better than the road," Mei Ling commented feeling really uneasy by how poorly treated the rooms appeared to be. While Helo just decided to said about it Crane seemed to have snapped.

"What?...what the hell?!We are we?!What's going on?" The waterfowl said turning around frenetically . Mei Ling held him firmly.

"Crane?Do you remember who I am?" The mountain cat asked. Crane stared at ther as if she was the one getting crazy.

"Yeeeaaaahh...why?" he responded while wondering if he was dreaming.

"Cause you just had another memory issue again, jerk!" She said being half angry and half happy. Crane was dumbfounded.

"What?!How?!I was feeling so well..."

"Don't ask me, the problem is that we don't know if that might happen again," Mei Ling said with seriousness. Crane was trying to take that information without getting too worried.

"Hum...anything bad happened while I was not myself?" Crane asked concerned.

"We're all here, nothing bad happened," Mei Ling said with a smile, but her eyes betrayed her. She still shot a glance of anger towards Helo. Crane barely noticed.

"Hum...what kind of person I became this time?..." Crane asked hesitantly. He still had in mind of how unhappily he let out about his parents on the first memory loss occasion.

"Your childhood. You pretty much was a kid again," Helo not giving a chance for Mei Ling to evade the question.

"Oh...and what did I said of...real importance?" Crane asked while fearing the answer.

"Only thing interesting you said was bout an owl lady that took care of you while you were on the streets. Not much after that."

Crane seemed to get into a deep state of shock, as if a terrible truth just being revealed towards himself that he never knew about or, probably, forgot with time.

"Jien?You ok?" Mei Ling asked while noticing how disturbed the avian was. Crane slowly made his way into the dirty room that they had allocated for the night. He didn't say anything, just stood there without blinking for few minutes. Both Mei Ling and Helo were getting worried.

"Crane, you alright?" Helo asked now getting into the room as-well. Mei Ling stood naer his side.

"She...I...did I...ever...knew her name?" Crane asked weakly.

"You don't remember," Helo said stating as a fact, not a question.

"No...I believe she...never really said..."

"Crane...you said her feathers were purple," The mountain cat said timidly. Crane turned around instantly, what was once at shocked state of mind became one of fear and disbelief.

"I did?Are you sure?!" The avian was nearly hyperventilating. Mei Ling took notice of this and got closer to him to calm the waterfowl down a bit.

"Take it easy Jien, what you think this means?" Mei Ling asked. Crane had some hard time to focus on the question.

"I...this woman...she...saved me...and...well, she...I think that after what happened with my family. I...she's the only other person in the world I would've called mother..."

Helo raised an eyebrow.

"For how long you two lived together?" Crane stared at him apprehensive.

"Not really lived but...saw each other quite often...for over two years."

**Meanwhile... **

Tigress landed hard on her back. She feeling of pain and the smell of burned fur filling her nose. Fenghuang pushed her away just in time, the creature erupted from its head what seemed like a cannonball towards her direction. Wasn't for the owl she would have been a goner. Fenghuang got a bit fried too but she was fine.

"For the...what the hell is that?!" The female tiger said while spying through the branches the darkened sight of the monstrous moving by the road.

"Don't yell, and that thing should even exist. I never believed it ever existed," Fenghuang said while catching her breath. She felt terrified as she haven't felt for a long time. "It's a dragon,"

Tigress frowned her face while thinking hard. She was trying to remember what dragon were on books or stories. Unfortunately she haven't read or heard enough of them.

"A huge flying snake?" Tigress asked. Fenghuang felt very tempted to laugh at her silliness. At least that took a bit of her fear off.

"Kinda of, but this dragon here has legs so undoubtedly a reptile species."

"How we fight that thing?" Fenghuang almost laughed again.

"You can't, it would kill you,"

"How so?I'm strong enough to..."

"Tigress, this creature doesn't have fighting stiles or such, it's just pure brutal force. He would gain on you no matter for how long you keep punching on him, his scales are like steel, hardly anything gets through, much less punches and kicks."

"How come nobody never saw this huge thing before?" Fenghuang felt a bit guilty.

"We didn't believe what Yallin said, remember?"

"Maybe we should try to tackle a tree or something at-

"There's nothing we can do to stop him Tigress! Why is so hard for you to listen?" The owl asked amazed by her determination to beat such most likely unbeatable foe.

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" Tigress said being frustrated by the lack of 'kung fu our way out' in this situation.

"I'm afraid we should look for Yallin,"

"..."

"What?!" The owl asked not understanding her silence.

"You mean 'run'?" She asked severely. Fenghuang sighed.

"I would call it a tactical retreat, better than getting into a pointless fight which you would die for sure," She retorted angrily. Tigress felt exasperated.

"Fine, but don't tell anyone we did this,"

"And what should I say if they ask?" Fenghuang wondered raising an eyebrow. Tigress hesitated.

"Just say we kicked the dragon's ass back to where he belongs,"

"Nobody would believe that," Fenghuang said rolling her eyes.

"Mantis, Monkey and Po will at least, that's good enough for me."

**Meanwhile...**

"I'm hungry."

"Urgh, not again!"

"Are you serious Po?You just ate all our food man!" Paol said being incredulous.

"Well, wasn't that much," Po replied nervously.

"That was our provisions for a week Po, you ate everything in two days!" The renegade was truly amazed. Po never seemed to eat that much when he was younger.

"Yeah, well...I'm sorry." Po said feeling guilty.

"Being sorry wouldn't prevent us from starving to death panda," Shen said icily. The peacock has been quite hungry for the last hours.

"Ok, let's take it easy..." Paol said while hating Shifu for getting Shen in the same group as Po. It was getting a nightmare to take care of the two. At least Paol was pretty sure that Yallin wasn't doing any better having Tigress and Fenghuang with him.

"Thankfully the village is nearby, other day on the road and we probably wouldn't make it," Shen insisted on tormenting the panda.

"Would you shut the goddamn mouth?!" Paol yelled angrily at him. Shen just ignored him and kept walking.

"_*sigh*_ I wonder what Shifu had in mind getting him with us, this is really a bad idea in my opinion. What you think, Po?" Paol asked to the panda.

"I can't blame him, he's right after all," The panda said while moving nearby the wolf.

"Who?"

"Shen," Po said simply. Paol was stunned.

"What?!Are you serious?" Po nodded. "But he-

"I shouldn't have done that, I could have got ourselves at a huge risk, it was really dumb from my part. I can't blame him, he's probably hungry too."

This was a side of Po that Paol never saw before.

"Since when you got so mature?" The wolf said teasingly.

"I'm not a kid," Po mumbled a bit.

"Sure not, but sometimes you just..."

"I know, can't blame a guy for being happy and chilling out a bit, can you?"

"No, not really..."

**A/N: Well, this is it for this chapter, til next one!Have a good week.**


	51. Chapter 51

**A/N: Another chapter, longer than expected(or maybe not)not getting much motivations to update this, but I will finish it! :P I got a bit upset because some people have been trying to discuss with me about Rio 2 again and I'm not in the mood to talk about any movie at all. Especially disappointments. Even so...**

**I would like to thank everyone that reviewed last chapter, and others before that. I'm sorry I couldn't get replies for you all in this one, but I'm in a hurry since the notes I usually wrote at the same day I update.**

**Now for the story. Enjoy.**

**But before that...anyone has a request to do?Like...a one-shot, or a small story about anything?Related to KFP of course. Just PM or leave a review. I'm kinda open for new ideas. Also it would make much easier to have anyone to chat with using Teamspeak 3 if possible.**

**Anyway...**

Crane stared at emptiness for seconds, pondering the possibility about previous events in his past. Everything he'd been thorough was slowly coming to reveal itself as he kept moving forward, ever since he saved Shen on that fateful day his life has been sent into a twist from where he was slowly losing himself into. It's like everything he knew and believed to be real...just isn't.

Things had changed dramatically in the last weeks, but the way things were changing so quickly was starting to bother him. So many astonishing revelations, so many hidden facts...so many forgotten.

"It's that possible?I mean...of everything that happened with me...who would though she would be the one to take care of me?I don't think she really remembers," Crane said vaguely. Mei Ling frowned.

"You're talking about Fenghuang?" She asked. Crane stared at the mountain cat for the first time after minutes.

"You think it was her too?" The waterfowl asked hesitantly. Mei Ling shrugged.

"I'm not familiar with many owl's, at least with purple feathers...and I wonder where did Helo went to?He's been missing for few minutes."

"I don't know, my head is hurting...I mean...this whole thing about Dai Lu Yan, Shen, Fenghuang...gez..."

Mei Ling gave him a sympathetically stare.

"I know you've been through a lot."

"_*sigh*_ Well...normally Po is the one that get's the action and the important stuff...I never really wanted to be that much important. At least no to decide the fate of China."

"If you were to be selected the Dragon Warrior, wouldn't that be your destiny?" Mei Ling asked with some irony.

"Well, I'm not, so..." Crane retorted annoyed.

"Anyways if Fenghuang is your...step mother...(Crane stared daggers at her)...so how will you tell that to her?"

"Should I?" Crane was astonished. "I can hardly imagine what her reaction would be like."

"You should, then-

Mei Ling got interrupted by the sudden income of Helo into the room. He was carrying an old sack that the eagle deployed near the door.

"Hey, how you two doing?" The eagle asked while laying against the wooden wall. The room the group was staying at was big but terribly treated, it was amazing if by just laying against the wall wouldn't crack it open judging its condition.

"We're good. Where were you?" Crane asked while examining the back of his head with his wing after taking his straw hat off. He felt the scar that sealed his previous wound. It was amazing he survived that concussion. He probably shouldn't be touching that delicate area at the moment, at least that's what he though when he saw the stare that Mei Ling was giving him for doing that.

"Just getting some stuff I left behind at the entrance," Helo responded without much interest.

"Hum...ok...hum...Helo?" Crane called nervously. The eagle gave him a quick stare.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to tell me the rest of your story...with Shen."

No need to say that Helo tensed up instantly.

"I'm not su-

"I'm not asking," Crane said severely.

Helo stared back, his eyes locked into Crane's.

"So be it...get a good seat, this will take a while."

***Flashback* **_**Helo's P.O.V**_

_'I wonder to myself if that kid will be alright, he sure didn't look he was doing fine.'_

_I kept thinking with myself the encounter with the young peacock, one that I felt I wouldn't forget for a while. The boy seemed fragile in a certain aspect, I'm not sure why. But I'm sure it has nothing to do with his unique feathery coloring. Wasn't everyday I would see a white peacock. Also it felt bit disturbing to look at him in the eyes, they were deep glowing red. I never saw such before, it was...unnerving._

_Few days passed by while I kept at my routine through Gongmen City. I actually managed to get a job here...as a fisherman._

_How Ironic._

_At least I wouldn't have to pay for food since I would work with it, heh. It fitted pretty damn well for me in the difficult situation I was in at the last days. _

_Then while days passed by I saw him, standing by the edge of the dock. I was slowly returning from another productive day of work. I made my way to him after setting up a rope to keep the boat still. Shen seemed a bit anxious..._

_"Shen?What you're doing here?Are you by yourself?" I asked after approaching towards the young avian. Shen didn't seemed to pleased to hear such._

_"I'm not really alone, actually I have a friend of mine, huh...keeping me company while moving around." He said somewhat shyly. I let out a chuckle._

_"Oh, so you have another friend?Where is he?" I asked while staring at the crates and barrels behind him. If there was someone keeping the peacock under watch I seriously doubt he would let himself out of the open so easily, probably to made other people think that Shen was, indeed, by himself._

_Shen made a distinct noise, then I saw a figure emerge from the crates nearby, a young wolf._

_My first opinion at this was not really good, but I managed to keep it to myself. Befriending wolves wasn't really the brightest idea by far. But then this was no ordinary peacock either, maybe Shen see something different in this wolf from the others. Even so..._

_"This is Zhang, we meet some time ago, we keep each other safe." _

_At this I felt a bit confused, how exactly Shen would make a wolf feel safe if pretty much he could take care of him own? I think that Shen might have understood my moment of stunned silence cause he quickly added an explanation._

_"Wolves are not well seen in the society, especially near royalty. My dad is constantly remarking me about this, but I convinced him and mom to trust Zhang. Even so he's only allowed to move through the city only while I'm around and vice-verse."_

_"Oh, that's seems pretty nice, how old are you Zhang?" I asked gently as possible. The wolf glanced nervously at Shen that merely nodded in response. _

_"I'm about two years older than Lord Shen," He said. I couldn't help but frown a little. Lord?That wasn't exactly a very friendly way to say it..._

_"Oh, ok. So Shen...you came here for any special reason?" I asked him while moving back to collect the fishes I managed to catch in the day. Shen was probably a bit unsure of what to say in response, but I wouldn't have notice it clearly at the time._

_"Well, yes. I want to invite you to come at the Tower," He said with extreme formality. I nearly laughed with myself._

_"What?Really?Why so?I don't think I'm royal enough to be allowed in there," I said without really thinking carefully about the invite._

_"Nonsense, besides my...parents want to know you better, they became quite curious about you since I told about our meeting that day," Shen said while looking distractedly at the docks. Nothing much to saw there that would be enough of his interest._

_I need no one to tell me that was total bullshit. There was something else this peacock was after, but what interest he could see in me?I rather was bothered by that, but also my curiosity got the better of me._

_"Ok, that sounds fine for me, I'll be joining you once I get this fishes to the market, I'll make it quick."_

_After a couple minutes I returned to join Shen and Zhang. Without further conversation he lead the way to the Tower. I was honestly surprised to see how much he changed since the first time we met, he seemed so much more cold and cautious. I also reminded myself that I was about to met the highest authority of Gongmen City, that sure put me a bit nervous about an imminent meeting with the Royal Peacocks. I've heard a lot about them since I got into the town. A lot of good things and...other things._

_We pass through the main entrance without difficult, at there I recognized the guard from the day I came to return Shen. If I wasn't so nervous at the moment I would've laughed at his face, he simply couldn't believe his eyes when he saw me._

_I slowly eyed everything around in as we were making into the Tower. The place was very well taken care of, so clean and organized. But it lack of a certain touch of wild nature into it, it felt empty somehow._

_Much to my surprise Shen's mother was at the Tower entrance talking with her subordinates, she took notice of us quite quickly. _

_"Oh Shen, you're back. I guess you managed to find your friend," She said in a way much different from the first time I met her. Was I wrong about her?It's hard to take first impressions off._

_Shen merely nodded, he took a place aside his mother while Zhang seemed to vanish all of sudden without I realized._

_"Thank you for coming, I think I didn't thank you enough for bringing Shen that day. I'm Lady Sun Chen," She said very gently. I was truly astonished with her charm._

_"I'm Helo, Helo Gotsu, it's a pleasure," I said bowing respectfully. _

_"Welcome to the Tower Helo, my husband is currently busy at the moment but I'm sure he'll be anxious to met you as well See you later, take care Shen," She said to her son before turning around to leave. Shen merely nodded in response. I was getting a bit concerned at Shen's simple gestures he uses when people talk with him. He wasn't like that when I met him. _

_"So, what we're going to do?" I asked Shen hoping he would remind I was here, since the peacock was clearly thinking deeply with himself. _

_"Uh?Oh yes, of course," He said shaking out whatever thoughts were in his mind at that moment. "I think you heard about my family's tradition involving fireworks, haven't you?" _

_"Yes I did, quite a lot actually," I said wondering what this had to do with anything he would be planning._

_"I've been working along my father for the last months to learn about the manufacturing and I came to find something really interesting, but I'm not really sure about showing it to no one yet, but I would like some opinion in that matter, and besides Zhang I sure I can trust your own." _

_I was actually surprised, Shen wanted my opinion on his personal work?That was a bit...weird._

_"What exactly you want to know about?I know nothing about fireworks," I said unsure about this._

_"Hum, I'm sure of that, but this is different from a firework, much different. And being so different from a fireworks makes me also know nothing about it, except how to create the formula. But what use I can make of such it's what I'm curious about," He said with a mischievous grin. That sure gave me chills._

_"I get it, you need ideas and suggestions for its use and a reason to actually produce more in large scale," I said while following the peacock inside the Tower._

_"Not at large scale. At least not yet, I would be performing several test and different compounds before taking any significant course of action," _

_This kid was starting to scare me a bit, he wasn't talking like a youngling, but pretty much an an ambitious adult person._

_"So...Shen, how's life going?" I asked deciding to change the subject all of sudden, that got him by surprise._

_"It's fine," He said sounding irritated. I raised an eyebrow._

_"Are you sure?What happened that day after I left you here?I hope your pa-_

_"It doesn't matter!" He said turning to me with a very angry expression. I took the chance to analyze him. He was clearly angry, but also somewhat afraid of the subject._

_"Alright, let's keep moving then..."_

** *End Flashback* **

"So he must have found how to produce the powder around the time you where there," Crane said being totally amazed by what he just heard. Helo nodded quietly.

"I don't know if it's just that he found out, but it was clear for me that something happened that changed him dramatically. More on the inside than the outside." The eagle said with a frown.

"What do you think about Shen's parents?Where they good people?Or just apparently?" Mei Ling asked while streaching herself after being sitting for so long.

"I don't know, but the only person who would give us an answer probably would be the Soothsayer. I thin-

Helo suddenly stopped. His head turned towards the closed door. He quickly became tense.

"What's wrong?" Crane asking getting worried.

The eagle slowly moved to the door, opening it carefully he got outside. Mei Ling and Crane stared at each other confused.

"What's going on?" Crane asked. Mei Ling was about to respond when suddenly her ears picked up.

"We're not alone."

CRASH

Mei Ling and Crane yelped as the wooden wall simply obliterated and Helo came flying through it. Pieces of wood flew everywhere. After recovering from the shock they saw the eagle at the flow with several gashes on his chest.

"What happened?" Crane quickly asked while moving to help him. Mei Ling raised her staff at defensive instance while looking at the other side of the hole in the wall. Three figures were standing silently while looking at them.

"Well, well, well. If isn't our dear sister Mei Ling," A cold and sinister feminine voice echoed into the room. Crane recognized it almost instantly. The waterfowl got in combat stance almost immediately while staring at the assassins standing just meters away from them.

"I'm not related to scum like you Su," Mei Ling with clear hatred. Crane never heard she talk like that before.

"I could tell the same, but still we are in the need of clearing our family name of traitors like you," The Wu sister said while smiling evilly.

While the conversation kept going Helo slowly stand up and used something to lit out a small flame. Crane wondered what was the purpose of such in a dangerous situation like the one they were in.

"Crane, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to tell much more about Shen," He said wincing in pain right after, he was bleeding from the deep cuts he received. The waterfowl was totally perplexed.

"What you're talking about?" Mei Ling was also noticing this strange behavior of his. The Wu sisters were slowly making their way into the room. Their eagerness to kill them quite evident.

"If there's someone to help that peacock to find peace it's you, Jien," Helo smiling. His once white-feathered chest was now completely red.

"What are you do-

Before Crane could say any further Helo made a strong move with his wings knocking both Mei Ling and Crane out their feet towards the wall with the only window in the room. They crashed through it quite easily and went falling down towards the street.

The Wu Sisters were suspicious about this. They stopped few feet away from the injured eagle.

"That was brave, but pointless. After killing you we'll get them eventually," Su said with a chuckle. Helo laughed, much to get her upset.

"This ends here, I've enough of you three causing trouble for so many years," Helo said while keeping the small flame alive.

"What makes you think you can stop us?" Su asked sarcastically.

"Just this..." He said throwing the small flame over his old sack that was now open.

**Meanwhile... **

Crane managed to get up to his feet quickly, Mei Ling recovered from her fall quite faster, people on the street were alarmed being scared of what just happened. They probably realized some sort of fight was erupting.

"Crane, you alright?We need to get bac-

Before she could end the upper flower of the building they were in seconds ago simply exploded. The heat and the wave simple knock out both of them out their feet again. Pieces of wood flew everywhere, most of them on flames.

Screaming erupted across the small town. The sight of what happened just cause a massive panic over the citizens.

But no one felt more shocked at what happened than Crane and Mei Ling, after recovering for the second time they stared mortified at the upper part of the building that now didn't exist anymore, while most of the rest was burning.

Crane couldn't believe it, this coudln't be true, not after all they been through. He would never imagine someone would have the courage to do such. Mei Ling had tears on her eyes, she simply couldn't believe it either. What the eagle did for them...

Then out of the ashes and pieces of wood Crane saw laying on the floor a small white feather, part of it was burning slowly.

"Helo...why?"

**A/N: Well, I'm back!But probably I will disappear again. But I'll end this til chapter 60. No worries. The sequel I planned will come out shortly after, cause I made some changes.**


	52. Chapter 52

**A/N: Another chapter, also I would personally like to thank the reviewers for still keeping up with the story...even if I'm having a hard time doing the same to be honest. Anyways...to the replies!**

**Crown Prince of Horror;  
><strong>

_Sorry about that, but such dramatic events tend to happen on time or another. Not that I wanted to do that but..._

**TheWhisperingWarrior; _  
><em>**

_I definitely will. I'm sorry about Helo, but it's the way the stories goes, can't promise anyone else won't die..._

**Bshild94;**

_Well, thank you very much!Yeah, I understand about the whole PoxTigress thing, maybe I should made a bit more of that in this story, but it will keep it for the sequel so I need it in the description. I wished nevertheless that people noticed that this pairing is clearly secondary in this story. Hum, I got some other requests for one-shots. I'll see which one I'll have time for. Thanks for the suggestion. Oh, and welcome to the story!_

**Mordecai J. Quintel;**

_:P_

**Guest**;

_Heroism?Maybe...though I truly wished he didn't have to die for that. Thanks anyway._

**Jayhawker11;**

_Thank you very much Jay, I really appreciate the kindness in your review, and don't worry. The propose will happen but...there's a long road ahead, and many unexpected surprises still to come. :P_

**Miss Yuri;**

_Wow!I really honored! :) I'm really relieved that I managed to make the characters IC as possible, that was my biggest concern. Hhaaha, yeah it's really hard to imagine Shenx Fenghuang but, hey...it's a challenge, and one I'm ready to take it. :P Tigress and Fenghuang might get along, only time will tell. Well, Tigress haven't got along with Shen yet. Yeah, thanks about the OC part, I really didn't want to bring Oc's, not a fan of those. Even so no matter which kind of KFP fic you're writing, if is one of big magnitude like this I can't avoid Oc's forever. I'm even more relieved they are doing fine, Oc's were always my biggest concern. You're Italian?Wow, nice!Greetings from Brazil btw v_o Thanks for the review and for the kindness. Don't worry about the english, you did pretty good. And don't worry, I'll finish this before dying for sure. :)_

How could this happen?He was right there...and still Crane couldn't help but hate himself for not acting faster at the unexpected appearance of the Wu Sisters, he hesitated and that costed Helo's life. They foolishly let their guard down for a second and this happened. Why?Why did he not made anything at that delicate moment?He felt ashamed for letting fear held his actions, was he afraid?Not of dying perhaps...but for Mei Ling.

Crane was slowly understanding the price of a relationship while living as a Furious Five member. He let his emotions blind his actions, and that would never result on any benefits whatsoever. Was this the reason of why Master Shifu always denied them to experience relationships while being who they were?Because he knew the consequences of it?

The waterfowl tried to drag Mei Ling away of the terrible scene that had developed in front of them minutes ago. What could he said to her that would possibly make things less worse than they were?

Not only the height of Helo's death was dropping over his conscience, but also the fact that whatever relationship that Helo had with Shen in the past was now forever lost, and Crane also was wondering if he should actually tell Shen about the eagle. He seriously doubt the peacock would remember.

While trying to think on something to console Mei Ling he heard a distant voice calling his name.

"Hey, Crane!Mei Ling!Are you two alright?!"

The waterfowl turned his head around just to see Po, Paol, and Shen coming at them. He felt a bit anxious and relieved to see the other group.

"We're fine," Crane said as they got close enough, thought saying that they were fine wasn't entirely true.

"What happened?" Paol asked looking at them with evident concern. "We saw a flash and then we heard a very loud explosion."

"Yeah, that was the building on fire back there," Crane responded while trying to find a way to reveal Helo's fate without sounding too morbid.

"Are you playing with fire now?How interesting," Shen said tonelessly. Crane frowned. He didn't feel too at easy to talk with Shen just yet.

"Where's Helo?" Po asked all of sudden noticing the absence of the eagle. "I though he was with you two,"

"Po...we...the Wu Sisters cornered us just moments ago,"

"What?!The Wu Sisters?How the hell you two managed to..." But right when still speaking Paol's voice slowly died, he then managed to get the picture of what happened. "Where's Helo?"

"He's dead," Mei Ling said after what seemed an eternity of silence from her in Crane's opinion. Her voice felt a bit shaky. The silence that followed, only filled with terrified voices from the villagers, was one of the coldest that Crane ever felt before.

"He...but..I mean...I though...of all the groups. I was pretty sure your group would be the one to endure less issues if compared with the rest. And Helo...I mean, I guess only Trigger would be more though guy than him, how this happened?" Paol was clearly exasperated and upset.

"I'll tell you about it, but not here, we need to go some place else,"

"And buy some food too," Po said with clear urgency. "We ran out of it,"

"Thanks to you," Shen snapped at him irritably.

"Hum...sure. Mei Ling, any ideas?" Crane asked not really sure where to go.

"Yes, there's a storage house at the outskirts near the lake. I hear the owner is a very sweet person, people in this village like her very much," The mountain cat replied not looking at anyone in particular. The waterfowl wondered if she felt even more guilty than him.

"Let's go there then, we sure have a lot to discuss," Paol said firmly. "You lead the way Mei Ling," She merely nodded and soon the group followed behind her. In the mean time Shen and Crane came close to each other after a long time of absence, at least in Shen's view.

"I'm...hum...relieved to know nothing happened with you two. I was...worried," Shen said this with a hint of nervousness, which was unusual for the peacock. Crane's eyes widened surprised by this. Shen worried about him?Even after Crane yelled at him calling him murderer last time they talked?Whatever guilty Crane felt after Helo's death had just increased by twice now.

"Err, yeah. I just wished Helo haven't..."

"I don't know why, but that eagle felt familiar somehow the first time I saw him," Shen kept on after Crane's pause. The waterfowl wasn't sure if he could laugh anymore at such statement, the eagle was much more related with the peacock than he would be able to remember. But now...it really didn't matter anymore.

"I just hope the others are doing better than us,"

**Meanwhile...**

"I never though I would be happy to see you two idiots again," Tigress said to Mantis and Monkey while her, Fenghuang, Yallin, and Trigger where hiding under part of a naturally suspended giant rock.

Trigger, Mantis and Monkey managed to catch Tigress group. Though the fact that her and the owl were being attack by a huge lizard that would set anything in front of him on fire didn't make it the most pleasant re-encounter. Even more because suddenly the dragon saw Trigger flying above and decided to barbecue him as well.

"I can't tell the same, not with those new friendships you make out of the blue," Mantis retorted with a frown.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fenghuang asked clearly irritated.

"I'm talking about the dragon," The praying mantis retorted with an annoyed expression.

"Oh..."

"Can't we talk about making friends later? We sure need to find a way past that dragon and get the hell out of here!" Yallin said sounding incredibly nervous.

"Good job on running away and leaving us behind back there, by the way," Responded Tigress icily. Yallin rolled his eyes.

"I didn't ran away, that was a tactical retreat. Not that I really expected to be up against a dragon, and neither were you two."

"We didn't ran away!" Fenghuang said clearly undignified.

"Did you beat the dragon?" Yallin asked.

"No," Responded Tigress and Fenghuang together.

"Did you almost got killed?"

"Yes,"

"Well, feel free to keep your dignity if you want, I rather keep my life," Yallin said as if making his point. Tigress sneered.

Tigress tried her hardest to think about any possibilities of pasting the dragon, the creature was still luring around in the dark looking for them. They had no way to escape without being spotted, that dragon probably could see things at night almost good as day. This was something none of them were ever trained for, to face mythical creatures was something simply out of the logical context. Sure they went against magicians and crazy psychos like Lord Shen or Dai Lu Yan before but nothing like this. This wasn't just a new challenge for Tigress, for the first time in her life she would have to admit. This foe was impossible to beat.

"Tigress, If we cause a diversion it would be enough to give room for the rest to escape," Fenghuang said breaking Tigress deep thoughts. The feline pondered about this idea.

"And what exactly that diversion would be?" Tigress asked not really sure to trust Fenghuang just yet, though she saved her life few minutes ago.

"A bait, a living fresh bait," She said with a mischievous grin. Everyone stiffened at this. Tigress suddenly turned towards the rest of the group.

"Volunteers?" Everyone, including Fenghuang, was a bit shocked at the sudden harshness of the question.

"Can I talk freely?" Trigger said raising his wing on the air. Tigress nodded. "You're one mean b-

The hawk was quickly shut by Mantis and Monkey, both smiling nervously.

"Don't mind him, he's just at the edge lately," Mantis explained while helping Monkey to keep the hawk's beak shut.

"I'll do it," The owl said with severity. Fenghuang quickly took away the fears of everyone else. Tigress raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" The feline asked.

"Of course I am," Though her voice was firm her expression clearly revealed anxiety. "What?Are you worried about me Tigress?" She asked with a chuckle. The feline snorted.

"Not at all, I just wonder how much of your ego of maliciousness will be required to convince the dragon to join you," She retorted back.

As incredible as it seems Fenghuang started laughing at this, which surprised Tigress.

"What so funny?"

"Y-you of course...and the boys keep saying that you don't have sense of humor," The owl said after an effort to calm down a bit. Tigress felt her face heat up quickly. She didn't say that as a joke.

"Err...well, good luck," The feline said while being a bit embarrassed.

"Thank you, the rest of you get ready to jump out at my signal,"

"Which will be?" The simian asked sounding clearly nervous.

"I'm pretty sure to be if the dragon roars or make any loud noises," She replied gently. "Can you carry the three of them Trigger?

The hawk took a quick glance at Tigress.

_"More like if I want to,"_ He muttered under his breath. "Yes, that won't be difficult, you take care my lady,"

"Err...sure," Fenghuang felt really unease being called by 'my lady',"

**Meanwhile...**

Now this was a really long walk for the storage house Mei Ling mentioned, not only took nearly an hour but pretty much enough of their patience. By that time Shen was about to snap at any moment after hearing nothing but moans and complains form Po about this and that, and what also made him upset was that Paol was going into the same line of though but didn't bother to do anything. Crane and Mei Ling were still mourning themselves over what happened an hour ago.

The storage house was huge, and the entrance similar to any common house, they sure had a great view from the lake from there. After getting inside they were surprise to see how clean and organized this place was if compared with the rest of the village nearby. There were huge amounts of food, water and clothing everywhere. It seemed to be used as storage for the farm productions and also to re-supply the village's commerce.

"May I help you?" Asked a female duck that sitting on a table cheeking recent products and writing on a small scroll whatever information it could be.

"Oh, yes. We came for supplies. Just food and some canteens of water," Paol said quickly coming next to her.

"I see, unfortunately I'm busy at the moment, I'll call for Madame Jien to help you," She said quickly jumping out of the table and entering a side room by the small door at the back.

"Wow, they got so much stuff!My dad would be crazy if he saw how much ingredients he would gather here," Po said excitedly while walking around checking everything.

"Sure he would," Paol said in agreement. Shen was also walking around looking at how much products this place contained. It made him wonder how the storage's of Gongmen City back many years ago were under so much distress when even a small and distant place like this have so much for their own.

Mei Ling and Crane were sharing a small conversation which each other. Shen could see that the topic of the conversation wasn't one of the best by judging their expressions.

While everyone was minding their own an old female crane entered the room to attend them.

"Hello, my assistant told me you were looking for supplies," She asked directly to Paol who was sitting on an old chair lost in thoughts. Her voice sounded so sweet and motherly that made the renegade hesitate a bit.

"Errr, yes. We are," He said raising of his seat quickly. Everyone turned their attention towards them as they talked. The first thing that came into Shen's mind was that it was quite hard to tell the 'many' difference between a crane male and female, at least from certain distance. She did seem a bit old, maybe even older than Shen himself, but surprisingly healthy for her kind.

"And what exactly you're looking for?" She asked with a smile. Madame Jien slowly looked around to check on the rest of their group. Her eyes widened a bit seeing the panda, probably wasn't natural to see pandas around or maybe she never saw one. When her glance went over Crane and Mei Ling her eyes clearly detained for few seconds on Crane, her expression turned to one of pure curiosity. But then when her eyes found Shen her smiled instantly faded, and for a brief second Paol though he saw terror fill them.

"Madame Jien?Are you alright?" Paol asked after her gaze froze over the peacock. Shen took notice of this and didn't like none of it. Crane noticed it too and became quite concerned, he slowly made his way towards her.

"Huh?Oh, yes I'm fine, I just...it's been a long day," That was all she said ,her voice trembling a bit. "Come with me at the backroom, I'll help to get what you need,"

After Paol followed the female crane towards the other room Crane turned his head towards the peacock. Shen stared back, he clearly was apprehensive. The female crane knew who he was.

After an awkward silence the two came back. This time Madame Jien was clearly avoiding getting near the peacock. Paol was carrying some travel packs which he distributed along Po and Shen, and also gave a small sack to Crane.

"Thanks, I'm sure I'll pay you back once we get back to the Valley," Crane said regretting not bringing any yuans with him.

"Don't worry about it, besides I think we need to get a proper rest and share a lot we've been thorough lately," Paol said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, sure we have to," Crane said, his voice trailing off at distance as he got lost in his own thoughts.

"Huang?Are you alright?" Mei Ling asked noticing how off Crane was.

"Yeah, I'm al-

"What?!"

Everyone froze. Madame Jien's face had turned pale all of sudden. Her eyes had widened at shock while looking at Mei Ling. "What did you said?"

"Err...I asked him if he was al-

"No!" She yelled clearly frustrated. This surprised everyone. "You called him by his name, didn't you?"

"Hum...yes, Huang," Mei Ling responded while raising en eyebrow at this.

"Huang..." Madame Jien's gaze slowly trailed off from Mei Ling to Crane. "Huang what?"

"Huang Xin Jien, wh-

Before Crane could ask anything Madame Jien let out an yell that just freak out everyone. She suddenly dropped furiously into tears, her face hidden on her wings while gasping painfully.

"Madame Jien!Are you alright?!What happened?!" Crane rushed to her side, totally freak out by her reaction while everyone else gathered around him.

She slowly raised her head letting her wings fall to the side except for one that she place over Crane's beak. Her eyes still tearing out incredibly fast. Her voice came out after another painful gasp. A smile formed over her beak.

"I am now...my son."

...

Crane's sack fell on the floor quite loudly, the shock and horror is his eyes when Helo died was nothing if compared with how he looked right now.

"M...mom?"

**A/N: Have a nice week. :P**


	53. Chapter 53

**A/N: Another chapter, also I would personally like to thank the reviewers for still keeping up with the story...even if I'm having a hard time doing the same to be honest. Anyways...replies next chapter, sorry! ;-;**

Everything seemed to freeze, not caused by some weather condition, but for an impact of unimaginable proportions. At least on someone's mind...

Crane tried to think, but everything felt blank, empty, nonexistent. Where was he?Who was he?Was this real?Was it a dream...or something else?

He stood for what it felt like an entire life, his emotions dissipated, nothing too feel, nothing to think. Everything in the past hours,weeks, months...totally forgotten.

"Mom?...it-it's...it's really...?" Crane couldn't get the words along, the astonishment kept him from talking normally. Madame Jien stared into his eyes, hers tearing out so much that she barely could see with clarity. Crane didn't need her to respond, he felt just by her stare the confirmation for his incomplete question.

The waterfowl felt an incredible mix of emotions burning inside of him that he was nearly sure it would drive him crazy. Sadness, relief, curiosity, agony, sorrow, hope...fear. Hundreds of questions burning into his mind that he simply couldn't select one without being anxious to ask another right after.

Shen seemed nearly affected as Crane, but unlike Crane he wasn't shocked...he was angry.

There she was, Crane's mother. The one that Shifu poorly believed the peacock of killing, and to make it worse Crane took it to the hearth what the red panda said and accused the peacock of doing such. Shen felt great disappointment with that, and now that this accusation has been proven wrong Shen would demand for forgiveness.

Shen wouldn't rest till Crane begged to the peacock to forgive him of accusing Shen of killing his parents. Though it didn't escape Shen the fact that Crane's father probably wasn't around, which means something happened. The peacock would wait a bit more for further explanations before demanding justice.

Mei Ling was also astonished, in a way she was deeply happy for Crane having found his mother still alive, in other way she was wondering if this would bring several more complications for the waterfowl. Crane was having enough problems without having to take the huge weight this encounter would probably add. She wondered for how long Crane would keep himself focused, cause things were getting a bit out of hand quickly.

Po and Paol stood there contemplating the scene, they seemed to exchange some whispers, their expressions of bewilderment and anxiety.

Crane gently, and very carefully, lead himself into a very thigh embrace, his emotions boiling inside of him with so much fury that he tried his best to not cry like a little baby. His mother wasn't strong enough to held back her emotions, her face buried into Crane's chest while sobbing tremendously.

Crane was deciding between getting really happy or really sad. This whole thing about his parents always brought nothing but pain to his hearth, of course he misjudged a lot of things about what truly happened. Maybe now he would finally learn the true about his turbulent past.

Minutes prolonged themselves before any of the two could calm themselves enough to talk, moments which Crane was really thankful for everyone else to respect it. After what seemed like an eternity they split up, Madame Jien or more like to be called Crane's mother stared at her son with great curiosity. Obviously she also had hundreds of questions to ask, but surprisingly for Crane she started by the most of simple of them.

"Son, are you going to introduce me your friends?" She asked while looking at the rest of them with glee in her eyes.

"Hum...yes mom, this is Po Ping, or also know as the Dragon Warrior," Crane said pointing towards the panda that was chatting with Paol a moment ago.

"Nice to met you Crane's mother," Po said nervously while waving his hand. Madame Jien chuckled.

"You can call me Miss Jien if you want. The Dragon Warrior?Wow, I heard a lot about it, but of course what I heard about you clearly was way different from what I see now," She said very kindly, which obviously was referring about Po being a panda and not something more...likely of a grand warrior.

"This is Paol, he's a old friend of Po and also a renegade," Crane said introducing the young wolf next. Madame Jien studied the wolf carefully, she did heard about renegades before, but never believed much in the stories. The fact that she was seeing one in person created a lot of doubt about his reasons of being with her son's group.

"That one is- But before Crane could finish his mother cut him off quickly.

"Lord Shen, of Gongmen City. Yes, I know him. Thankfully never in person," Miss Jien said eyeing the peacock with certain severity, a glare that Shen returned with pleasure. Crane felt certain anxiety with that.

"I guess you heard...the old events that Shen went through," The waterfowl chuckled nervously, but quickly became quiet after his mother gave him an aggravated stare.

"I hope you can explain the reason of your companies later, and this wonderful lady is...?" She asked looking at the mountain cat.

"Ahn, this is Mei Ling, she's...my girlfriend," Crane said choking the words a bit. Wasn't necessary to say that Miss Jien's eyes went wide instantly. She stared at her son perplexed then back at Mei Ling.

"Is that true?" She asked. Mei Ling nodded with a shy smile. "Well, I must be missing something...son, what exactly you do for living?" She asked while frowning a bit.

"Mom, I...I'm one of the Furious Five," Crane responded not sure of what to expect. Miss Jien seemed she saw a ghost.

"A-Are you?...I...my son...wow, I..." Miss Jien was breathing heavily, she probably expected a lot of things but her son being of such vast importance and potential never actually crossed even her deepest dreams. And his girlfriend, she was simply gorgeous and undoubtedly a skilled warrior as well. Her son was so much more successful in life than she ever hoped he could be.

She heard about the Furious Five before many times, she knew the types of animal that made part of the group, it surprised her to know there was a crane but also made her proud to know there was someone strong enough to represent their kind. But the crane was "simply" her long-lost son!She simply couldn't believe this was actually true, sure it would take a while to accept it but to get used with it would be another story.

Miss Jien also wondered about this Mei Ling, how they involved together?She probably was special, especially cause she got over the fact Huang was a bird while she's a cat, apparently that didn't stop her from wanting a relationship. Miss Jien seriously hoped it wasn't something rushed.

Also the fact that Lord Shen was along them, that was driving her crazy almost more than anything. She had hundreds of reasons to not want her son along that peacock, but she couldn't talk about Shen to her son while the peacock's nearby. That talk would've to wait.

The renegade was almost more intriguing, why would he be here?What for?Is this was some kind of mission?It was everything related with each other?

So many questions...but all she really wanted was to know her son better.

"Son, oh my little Huang!This is like a dream coming true!There's so much we have to talk about, why don't you all come to my house so we can have a proper place to talk with each other," Miss Jien said, the excitement in her voice overcoming rapidly.

"Mom, we...we're in a mission, we can't-

Crane was about to excuse himself but Mei Ling gave him a slight kick on the leg. The waterfowl stared towards her at wonder, she merely frowned at him as if censuring his answer. Crane took few seconds to understand why she was upset. He just found his mother and he was giving away this remarkable moment of his life for duty?It shamefully reminded the waterfowl that this was the exact same cause of why he spent twenty years away from Mei Ling. He felt quite embarrassed and probably he would hear from Mei Ling about it later.

"Hum, maybe...sure, of course!That would be great, hum...any objections?" Crane asked looking at the rest of the group, but since Mei Ling also gave them the 'stare' no one replied negatively.

"That's wonderful!Just followed me after I finish closing up the market for today, I'm really anxious for it!" The happiness Miss Jien emanated was quite contaminating , at least that's how Mei Ling felt it was. After Crane's mom left they all dropped into a furious discussion.

"For the love of...we don't have time to sit around in your mom's house Crane, we need to get moving, too much at stake to be fooling around like we already are!" This was how Paol started to protest. Surprisingly Shen saw things different.

"Why so much hurry?It's not like we are completely sure what we are doing anyways, we've been traveling days towards a place we don't even know it's actually the right one using a poorly made map that was drew by that very suspicious leader of yours," Shen said while admiring his own feathers. Paol was about to retort but Crane got in the way.

"That's enough, we really don't know where we are going, and I feel that we should be going somewhere else instead, but I'm sure we'll find out as long as we remain calm and organized. We all need rest and get ourselves together._*sigh_* We, me and Mei Ling, went through a lot in the last hours so if you don't mind I'll stick by for longer, you wanna go in front?Feel free to leave any time you want."

Mei Ling and Po were quite surprise at Crane's harshness, even Shen raised an eyebrow at him. Paol merely grunted annoyed, but apparently it was enough to make him stay and be quiet about it. Mei Ling was suspicious that Crane just wanted badly to stay with his recent found mother the longest possible, but the avian would never admit it.

"I guess we're staying at Crane's mom house then...man, I'm tired too," Po said while stretching his back.

"How so?We did nothing but walk for few days, we didn't have fights or anything like that," Shen asked against his own will, he rarely would talk with Po in any aspect whatsoever.

"Yeah, but I'm sensible about long walks," Po said lamely. Shen did a noise that reminded Crane of something like a snort.

Miss Jien came few minutes later to guide them to her house, it would be a short walk up the nearest hill. In the mean time it amazed Mei Ling of how much his mother would nag over her son so much, she seemed quite interested about how Crane performed as such great warrior with such poor strength in his muscles. Now Mei Ling had to disagree in that, not all of Crane's muscles were that weak, he had quite few good spots. Especially around his tight.

The mountain cat quickly catch herself before getting lost too deep into such thoughts. A flush of redness covering her face that thankfully went unnoticed.

Miss Jien's interrogating was unstoppable, and she did that while embracing her son, which was weird cause Crane wasn't a kid anymore so...yeah.

But Crane didn't seem uncomfortable with that either, despite the obvious odd stare Shen was keeping at him during all the walk. In fact none of them saw the crane this happy ever since he finally got along with Mei Ling. For Mei Ling it was an inner relief, for Shen that wasn't of too much concern, he truly wanted to put the cards on the table already and find the true about everything. And after finding the true the peacock would be anxious to shove it over the waterfowl's face.

Paol was still upset but Po went to his side to give him reassurance.

"You ok?" Po asked while looking around from once a while. Paol nodded.

"It's just...it's crazy, this whole deal. I mean, this war all of sudden, this suspicious mission charged towards people we barely know, and also just losing a great friend of mine while the other finds his lost mother. What a world, huh?" Paol asked with a grin. Po chuckled.

"Yeah, pretty crazy, but that was makes life something after all, I'm really sorry about Helo,"

"It's alright, from what I heard from Crane he did the only thing he could do. I mean, he killed the Wu!Died like a true hero."

"Helo the hero?" Po asked jokingly. Paol laughed hard.

"We called him that sometimes, he totally hated it, used to call us insolent kids...I'm truly gonna miss him," The wolf stared away thoughtfully. Po nodded.

"I didn't knew him for long as you, but I saw how much of a good person he was, it's...I have no idea how difficult it must be to lose someone so close to you,"

"Oh, but you will," Paol replied, his expression aggravating. "War takes the most you had in life from you, it may let you survive it but without reasons too keep living. Take care of your friends well Po, you need them and they need you, always."

"I will."

Miss Jien was busy inspecting Crane's feathers and made a bit hard for Mei Ling to remind herself that it was his mother and there was nothing to be worried, or angry about it. True to be told the mountain cat was quite anxious to have some time alone with her boyfriend again, but apparently with his mother around that would be difficult.

"So how exactly you managed to mate?" Miss Jien asked perplexed. This time her question was said so loudly that everyone heard. Mei Ling and Crane blushed furiously while the other eye's were wide open at shock.

"Hum...I mean..." Miss Jien realized the embarrassment she caused, she let out her apologies before turning to her son, this time she just whispered nearby him.

Mei Ling was trying, AGAIN, to remind herself that this was Crane's mother and there was NOTHING to be angry about even if she was discussing about Crane's sexual life!

This was going to be another long road.


	54. Chapter 54

**A/N: Well, first I would like to thank all the people that have been following this story since quite long time, it means a lot to me. Also Im a bit sorry about how delayed this last chapters will be. You see...the story has around 200k words, but that's not the original size. The original size of the story has over 300k words, which means there's a lot of details I left out to simplify the story. I knew this would take a long time and I had to rush few things because of it, I tried to not let the most important out, but still there are few things I should have mentioned. So...I'll be finish the fic, hpefully still in this year, then I'll be re-updating every single chapter to it's original file. It might take few months to get it done, in the mean time I'll be working on the sequel, but before there will be other minor stories I'll be working on to get different ideas and perspectives.**

**This chapter is way off of what I would like, had to be rushed, but on the re-update a lot will be added, as well the other future chapters. It got really difficult to resume this last chapter cause there was a lot I had to reveal and talk about, but anyways time to get things on track and make light into the darkness.**

Fenghuang wasn't sure if this was really the best idea, but she have few reasons to put her neck at risk like this. Gaining the trust of Tigress was one thing that the owl had in mind, maybe this would ight up things between them.

Of course that she would need to survive this first to make sure that would actually happen. It didn't took long for the feral beast to engage after her when he saw the owl flying away at low altitude. Right after the first minute of chase Tigress and the others left fastest as they could using Trigger as a quick way to get away, undoubtedly the hawk wasn't happy with the extra weight of Tigress but he dealt with it.

Fenghuang made her flight through the forest, she had quite an experience of flying low by so many different obstacles. She honestly though she was the best at such until an encounter with Master Crane few months ago that proved her wrong. She still had that defeat heavy on her conscience and deeply desired for a rematch, but now without the need of killing him.

The dragon kept his vicious chase after her, it was quite peculiar how easy he could keep just by running, this quickly brought a realization to the owl. The dragon was running only, for some reason flying was the first thing that should come into his mind, it was only natural for a dragon to choose to fly over running. This dragon seemed a bit different.

"Alright, let's see if you can get me now," Fenghuang muttered with herself before gaining altitude quick and reach few hundred meters above the ground.

The ground suddenly stopped, his reptilian eyes staring evilly at her, he tried to flame her but his fire couldn't reach up high. He kept the stare for a bit longer and then...he sit.

Fenghuang raised an eyebrow at this. What an odd dragon this one was...

"Will you only stare at me bird, or will you do something?"

Fenghuang almost forgot to keep flapping her wings, the shock of what she just heard and saw was monumental.

"Did...you talk?!" She asked at bewilderment. The large reptilian roared.

"What did you expect?I'm not just a stupid beast as you all would think," He said, his voice seemed to echo into her mind .

"Hum..." The owl wasn't sure of what to think of this. "...why you're not coming after me?You can fly, can't you?"

"Oh, I can. It would be rather easy to catch you and rip your body apart. But then I would expose myself too much in the open, I have a reason to be hidden in this valley," He said with a tone that reminded Fenghuang of mockery.

"I see...well, still why did you attacked us?We didn't do anything to you," She asked rather enraged.

"I have to keep outsiders away, if you can escape that's good for you, if not you're good as dead. I can't risk for my existence to be revealed," The dragon said before turning around to leave. "You just distracted me so your friends could get away, that was quite a risk and I respect that. But now you know about me, I rather let you live if you promise not to tell anyone about what I'm truly am."

"Would you trust me that much?" Fenghuang asked quite surprised.

"You're a woman of honor, aren't you?You know you can trust my word, I guarantee you that because I'm a dragon."

"So can I go then?"

"Not until you get your friends here and make them to promise not to reveal about me,"

The owl kept silent for a minute. Going away and not telling about this conversation to anyone would be rather easy, though she hardly would forget his happened.

"Why do you hide in here?"

"Because I have a love for this land, it's been my home for a long time. I rather die here than leave, besides...I'm the last of my kind anyway."

**Meanwhile...**

Madame Jien lead her son and his friends towards her inn that was over the hills nearby the village they just came from, the view was quite spectacular. Crane's mother explained how this was a touristic route for most outsiders and that she was one of the responsible for making the commerce of the village prosper so greatly in the last years.

"So you're like one of the people who watch over the village?" Crane asked while still walking besides his mother, they finally reached into her house.(that was quite big)

"Of sorts, I helped through a lot of things, but I couldn't have done it without personal help," She said with a mischievous smile. Crane and Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

Before anyone could get an answer a crane came out of nowhere and landed right in front of them. Everyone stared at the newcomer.

"Mom, what you're doing here?I though you would be back only at evening," He said while approaching Madame Jien slowly. Crane's beak dropped of instantly, while the rest pretty much did the same. Madame Jien let out a chuckle. She turned towards Crane with an embarrassed expression.

"Oh, yes. I forgot, hum...Jien, this is your young brother, Ryuu."

"WHAT?!" Crane and Ryuu said both in unison. Utter shock went through their faces.

"I have a brother?!" They both asked. Madame Jien seemed lost between laughing or making a saddened face.

"Yes, you do, that's for both of you."

Crane and Ryuu stared at each other in pure disbelief. Not even in the slightest lured dreams or nightmares Crane would've had though about having a brother, it seemed pretty much impossible after what happened with him. But there was that other waterfowl, he was a bit shorter and his feathers still had no grey makers of age on them, his eyes were dark blue like his mother. The neck was dark black just like his, though his beak seemed a bit more shiny than Crane's beak. If there was someone who could get this right was Mei Ling.

"Mei Ling, so...does he look like me?" Crane asked very slightly. Ryuu kept frowning towards him at every second. He totally did not believe this but since it was his mother who told such it would be hard for him to get along with this.

The mountain cat didn't spent much time watching over Ryuu to get things right. Ryuu was the most similar younger version of Crane she ever seen, except that Ryuu was a bit shorter, different eyes and beak.

"Mom, who are they?And how come he's my brother?!You never told me anything about this!" Ryuu was extremely nervous, it was really unnerving for Crane that Ryuu had a similar voice to his. Even Mei Ling noticed that similarity.

"I will explain everything, but inside once our guests make themselves at home. Now please follow me," She said leading the group inside. Crane followed her and noticed how odd Ryuu was looking over him, and how quick that stare changed when Ryuu saw Mei Ling. Crane didn't like a bit.

"So...you're Crane's brother?Nice to met you, I'm Po!" The panda said rather enthusiastically. Ryuu's eyes went wide, he never saw a panda before.

"Hum...hi, nice to met you too...Po," The waterfowl said still trying to absorb the whole situation. Paol came to their side for the conversation.

"It must be a real shock for you to know about your brother, but hey...don't take it on the harsh side. I mean...he found his mother again after so many years, his mind was already going crazy without knowing he had a brother too, so I guess he's gonna have a much harder time to get used with this," The wolf said while scratching his back. "I'm going inside and get somewhere to sleep ,we've been traveling for days and had a lot of troubles in the path, I really want to get some sleep."

"Hum, I think you're right," Ryuu said while looking around unsure. "I'll take you inside and show your rooms, we have plenty here and we didn't have much guests in the last weeks. Something to do with 'dangerous times' people use to say."

"I know what that means."

Shen just showed up while admiring the location, he was fairly impressed, though he saw better before.

"And you are?..." Ryuu asked while looking at the peacock curiously. Shen let out a snort, he didn't expect a farm boy to know who he was anyways.

"I'm Shen, Lord Shen,"

"Lord Shen?" Ryuu was somewhat amazed. "From what kind of royalty are you from?"

"Does the name Gongmen sounds familiar to you?" Shen asked with mockery. Ryuu chuckled.

"It's that your farmland?"

Shen nearly snapped at the insolence, but Po came into the conversation just in time.

"Hey!So,...huh...why don't you show us the place?I'm really looking forward to know more about it,"

"Sure thing, follow me," Ryuu said and the group followed right after.

"Insolent farmer..." Shen muttered. Paol heard and tried to contain a laugh.

Ryuu and the other three quickly catch with Mei Ling, Crane and his mother. After a couple of hours getting settled they were taken to their rooms, though there was an issue with Crane's room.

"Hum...mom, why Mei Ling and I have to share the room?Besides there's a couple's bed in here," He asked quite straight cause the waterfowl was highly suspicious about this...coincidence. Madame Jien seemed somewhat confused.

"But aren't you both together?" She asked. Both Mei Ling and Crane nodded, the others rooms weren't nearby, the walls were made of pure stone which was quite rare. "So what's the matter?I'm sure you two would like to be close and comfortable enough to have s-

"OKAY!We got it!Thank you mom!" Crane said rapidly to vanish the end of her sentence. Mei Ling entered the room without ceremony while blushing with ferocity. Crane sighed. "Why do you have to be so impolite?" Madame Jien chuckled.

"If there was something me and your father always enjoyed was the nights we spent together making naughty things," She said with a smile, but it quickly faded after few seconds. Crane couldn't even feel undignified for her not having any shame for talking such. It was still something to clarify about...what happen with his dad.

"We'll have time to talk about it, but maybe we can leave that for tomorrow, we all tired after all..." Crane said with sympathy. His mother slowly nodded and hugged her son the strongest she could. Crane returned the hug, for him it did not care how long it would last as long it was forever. Knowing his mother was alive and that he had a brother made Crane think about few decisions to take on the last hours.

After few minutes they broke the hug and Crane made his way inside the room.

"Sleep well son," Madame Jien said before leaving to her affairs. Crane slowly closed the door, his mind racing with several thoughts. Mei Ling came to his side, this time it was her who shared a hug with him.

"How do you feel?" She asked very sweetly. Crane shook his head.

"I feel...different," There was no other world he could think of.

"You're going through a lot Jien, it will take time to go along with all this, for now it's best to just rest and get things on line tomorrow."

"Yeah...I guess that's the best thing to do, and..." The waterfowl hesitated. Mei Ling felt curious.

"What?"

"It's been quite a time since last time we did," Crane couldn't help but let out a mischievous and embarrassed grin. The mountain cat let out a laugh.

"Are you that anxious for it?" She asked teasing him.

"I'm sure you are," He retorted while pushing her towards the bed. The waterfowl slowly let his body overcome hers while caressing her belly.

"Don't forget to set the candles off," Madame Jien's voice came from the outside of their door. "And try not to moan loudly."

"MOM!"

**Meanwhile... **

"This doesn't make any sense," Ryskin said while looking at the highly respected kung fu masters.

Master Croc and Master Rhino had just met with them few hours ago, their reports about Gongmen and regions around were not the best, especially cause they just recently learned about the outgoing war at the Imperial Valley, and the most amazing of all...Dai Lu Yan and his troops retreat from the fight and were currently making her way to Gongmen City.

"Why would they retreat?Snd why Gongmen City?If the Imperial army gives chase they'll be trapped at the shores. Doesn't sounds much smart thing to do, Dai Lu Yan must be planning something."

"What could it be?There's nothing out of the ordinary we have noticed at Gongmen aside the uproar about Shen we had weeks ago, and people are still mad knowing he's being kept safe with the Furious Five," Master Croc said while resting over a giant rock.

"There must be something we are missing, Dai Lu Yan would not make such a move because he knows the risks of getting himself at Gongmen City, especially after the incident with Shen," Master Shifu said while walking from one side to another thinking on several possibilities.

"Does he have any sort of allies we are not aware off?" Master Viper wondered. That was quite a good question.

"Who?There's no potential force to aid him in a full out war against a vast army, only the renegades have enough strength but they clearly made their decision to go against Dai Lu Yan. Unless we-

"Wait!Actually we are forgetting that Lord Shen DID have an army few weeks ago, aren't we?" Master Rhino asked being quite alarmed. The others tensed slightly.

"Do you think the wolf army still out there somewhere?" Shifu asked being very worried.

"I wouldn't doubt of it, we didn't managed to catch any of them, after Shen was taken down they fled out of the town before we could even look at them. Who knows where they went?" Master Croc said with pessimism.

"Wolf Boss was taken down by Shen, they must have a new leader by now, but who could it be?" The red panda kept lost in doubts without ceasing his walking one side to other.

"Since you two are here who's taking care of Gongmen City?" Ryskin asked noticing that all members of the Council were present here, not that they were that many.

"The Soothsayer," Master Rhino said without worries. "She's been responsible for it since She's parents deceased."

Ryskin eye's went wide at shock.

"Wait!How can you two let an old nanny take care of such responsibility?!That's very immature in my opinion," The renegade said sounding quite enraged. Both master were apparently careless.

"Nothing to worry about it, Shen's parents made a deal with the Soothsayer, she would be the one in charge after them, but that was a little after Shen was born. For some reason they had doubts about Shen being capable of taking the responsibility of the throne, but Shen developed quite well so they were secure to nominate him heir to the throne," Master Croc said sounding quite tired.

But then Master Shifu was intrigued by this, he never knew about such deal.

"How long it took Shen's parents to decease after his demise of Gongmen City?" The red panda asked sounding quite suspicious. Both Master Rhino and Croc eyed each other. What was relevant about that question?

"About few days, why?"

"Did they ever managed to find the cause of the deaths?"

"Not really, there were no physical injuries or any other sort of such, we believed it was suicide," The crocodile said wondering where Master Shifu was trying to get with this.

Viper, who have been only listening the conversation, was figuring out where Master Shifu was tracing his thoughts towards.

"Master, you don't believe she would have..." Viper's voice trailed off at the end, she was really doubtful of that very idea. The red panda made a slight nod with his head without looking at anyone at particular.

"It would be very convenient to think she's just a defenseless old woman with good intentions, but she wouldn't be the first to use such tactics. I admit the way she implied them was with a quite genius touch. I'm getting myself to believe that the Soothsayer may not be the very good old women we saw few times. She's hiding more than the eyes can see," The red panda said as if speaking to the wind. Everyone around was curious, apart of Viper who seemed terrified.

"I can't believe she would've done this, she would ruin so many lives for her personal gain,"

"What you're talking about Viper?" Ryskin asked being quite confused about this crazy conversation. But Shifu and Viper ignored the others reactions and went on their own dialogue.

"Maybe we were wrong about him after all, Shen was never the main villain in this story, or even did anything wrong with personal purpose. He just might be another victim of a greater plan to achieve power, and him and his family paid the highest price for it."

"So Shen..." Viper tried to find the corrects words to describe her thoughts but she couldn't.

"Shen is confused and in pain for what happened, this thing about his prophecy perhaps was merely a way to change his path and move him out of the way. Perhaps he would've never done any of those things that were proffered. "

Woah, woah woah!Are you guys thinking that the Soothsayer might be behind some sort of scheme to achieve power by taking Shen to a darker path, moving him out of Gongmen City so she could be the next heir, and right after she might have killed his parents to secure the throne once and for all?!" Master Croc asked nearly yelling being totally undignified.

"That's exactly what we are thinking about," Master Shifu replied sounding quite serious.

"But why?Why would she do such?What could she possibly gain with this?Besides she was Shen's nanny and took care of him for many years" Master Croc was sounding quite exasperated trying not to believe that such wonders could be true.

"Like I said, it was with a genius and very patience touch she did all this," The red panda said rather calmly bu with a stern voice. "Taking care of Shen would give her plenty of time to precisely think on the very next mover while watching very closely over Shen's family. She may not have found a way to kill Shen while young, either since that would raise too much suspicious. One of few things I know is that Shen rarely spent time with his family or any others apart of the Soothsayer and his wolf friends. It would've been rather easy to blame the wolves for a murder, for some reason the goat maybe not have liked of that idea for personal reasons."

"Why would she spent so many years planning for such achieve?What can Gongmen City give her?" Master Rhino asked after listening carefully everything was said.

"That's the guestion I can't figure it out," Shifu said frowning a bit. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" Everyone asked with great apprehension.

"Unless this was merely a part of the plan,"

The was a stunned silence. The possibility of everything was said was doubtful but very frightening.

"To Gongmen City we must return. Viper, you and Ryskin will have to find the others, tell to them to met with us at Gongmen the fastest they can. Ryskin, I believe you can find renegades we can trust to help."

Ryskin let out a chuckle.

"Won't be any trouble, you can count on me with that, let's go Viper,"

"I'm coming...but...Master Shifu, if we find Shen...should we tell him what was discussed here?"

The red panda hesitated. If this was a good idea or not they would never be sure. but then...

"Tell Crane first, Shen may not get too much enraged if he's the one to tell, let's that don't drive him out of himself...again."

**A/N: Thanks for the attention guys, see you all in next chapter!**


	55. Chapter 55

**A/N: Hello everyone, I'm glad I managed to come back with another chapter, sorry for the long wait. There were some changes I have to make, anyways...to the replies!**

**Pandora;**

_Thanks for the kindness, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far._

**Bshild94;**

_Yeah, about your first review. I know how it is, many people haven't read it, but I'm really glad you did it and liked it that much, I feel really honored. And thank you for the support._

**Jayhawker11;**

_Thanks for the support!I'm really glad you liked those last chapters! :)_

**Alpha tiger;**

_I really don't know how to thank you enough for the support and sorry for taking so long to update those last chapters._

**TheWhisperingWarrior;**

_I'm really happy you still around and keeping with the story, I had serious troubles to update it on the past weeks. Thank you very much._

**Crown Prince of Horror; **

_I'm glad to see you around again!And thanks for the heavy support, plus I did understood that curious review of yours, lol. It happens, and about your last review...yeah, just a theory...for now._

While Crane, Mei Ling, Paol and Po were making themselves at home Shen kept walking through the halls looking for a decent room for his own. Madame Jien was following closely behind after leaving her son and his mate.

"I really don't feel like sleeping in those common rooms. I need something with...space," Shen said while checking every room until he could find one that would satisfy his needs.

"I'm sure you'll find our royal suite to fit your expensive tastes," She said with a touch of humor. Shen raised an eyebrow at her while being suspicious.

"I sure hope so...but I rather take a bath first, we've been traveling for endless hours to get here."

The female crane eyed him with certain apprehension. A lot was going in her mind while staring intensely at her guest.

"There's a bath area at the end of the entrance hall, you'll have anything you need there plus privacy of course."

The peacock suddenly stopped on his track and turned towards her in a swift move.

"Why?Why you're being so nice to me?" Shen asked without hesitation. Madame Jien blinked.

"Sorry?I don't real-

"It's my fault!...Isn't?!I'm the one to blame for what happened with your son, ain't I?!" Shen asked rather harshly, his eyes filled with fear and anxiety.

After a stunning silence the female crane slowly stared towards the wall, she seemed unsure of how to respond. After another minute of silence Shen started to walk back to his path being purely frustrated.

"I don't think it was really your fault Shen..."

Shen stopped dead on his tracks again, his eyes widening at what he just heard. Again he turned to stare towards her, he hardly could believe it.

"Are you-

"You better take your bath quick, is getting late and I need to take off the lights in few minutes," Madame Jien said with resignation, as if nothing important was said." This...conversation will have to wait til tomorrow."

The peacock clearly was not satisfied with that but made no signs of objection. After a couple of minutes Shen found the bath room and quickly took off his robe and launched himself at the hot water, it helped him to calm down the nerves quite a lot, now he could understand why Crane would do this sometimes.

"If you don't mind I would ask you to remove your metal claws, I don't want you to cause any damage to the property."

Shen swallowed a lot of water at shock of hearing Madame Jien's voice so nearby him. What happened with the privacy she talked about?

"*cough* Wha-what?What you're doing here?"

"Just because I don't blame you for something that happened in the past doesn't mean I'll trust you around. And I said to remove those metal claws already," She said while being clearly annoyed.

Shen made sure the lower part of his body was deep into the water, but the problem is that he would need to take off his feet coverings, he also wondered why he didn't take them off before.

"Hum...I can't..." Shen said very slowly.

"Oh...and why not?" Madame Jien asked while raising an eyebrow and letting out a malicious smile. Shen scratched the back of his neck at nervousness, he never felt so exposed like this before.

"Cause...hum...my...feet...they...don't look very...well..." Shen was tying his best to not blush at his own silliness, even so he couldn't help but take a huge pride over his appearance. He felt that any imperfection that his body could display would be a sign of weakness.

Madame Jien felt slightly curious by this. It made her wonder if this was just an excuse for something else. She moved closer without taking notice and that made Shen shiver.

"What's wrong with your feet?"

"I...got hurt...few years ago...and that left marks," Shen simply wouldn't give more details than that.

"Oh..." The female crane dropped off of her inquisitive stance and took a more relaxed posture."We have quite few good things for that, I can find you some interesting pastes that can remover scars and other things, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Are they still hurting?" She asked rather passionately. Shen was quite surprised by her gentleness.

"Hum...just my pride," Shen replied while chucking nervously, Madame Jien let out a soft laugh.

"Oh, you peacocks always concerned about appearance, that's why it's so hard for most of you to find a good mate."

"You don't look that bad..." Shen said without thinking.

"What?"

Shen gulped nervously while feeling his face heating up incredibly quick.

The cold silence that fell over the room was enough for Shen to forget he was bathing over hot water. He tried his best to avoid staring at the female crane for longest he could, but after few minutes he couldn't hold it anymore. Then suddenly she broke the ice first by calmly talking with him as if she didn't hear anything out of natural.

"You know...maybe we can talk more about this tomorrow, I'll wait outside til you're done bathing, I don't wanna make you worry about showing anything you don't want to...yet."

'Yet?!What's that suppose to mean?!' Shen though while trying to hold his panic for what he just heard. He watched as the female crane slowly left the bath room and closed the heavy doors. The peacock let out a sigh of relieve.'Crane's mother is quite a figure...'

**Meanwhile...**

Crane was laying over the bed moving from one side to the other, he felt quite uncomfortable at the start by being over a bed, he simply couldn't remember last time he did such. It wasn't his natural way of sleeping and the experience was quite new for him, not much more than having Mei Ling by his side sleeping peacefully. He couldn't help but stare at her the whole time while carrying a smile over his beak. His wing slowly caressing her chest and playing with her fur.

It was almost like a dream coming true, just like what happened with being a kung fu hero now he felt he has the family he always wanted. Of course he was still missing his father and he wasn't sure of what to think about his brother Ryuu.

Then all of sudden it came back to his mind everything Helo told him about Shen and the imminent invasion over China, it hit him hard in the guts to remember the huge responsibility he was carrying before all what happened and now even more that he has people he deeply loves and cares about.

A war is expected to happen soon, which sides will have a play on it is still unknown. Crane feared for his friends out there, this time things would be on a huge scale much more serious they ever were before, even when they fought against Tai Lung or Lord Shen.

To make things worse...Crane had no idea which side he should take, or any of the others. So far it was apparent they would have two choices; The Renegades or the Empire.

The waterfowl knew that any kung fu master has a duty to the Emperor, since he would be their first priority. But Crane refused to think on any situation he would leave any of his friends or Mei Ling to die just to save the Emperor's life. True to be told the Emperor never did anything for him, so why he should care?Because duty?

Nonsense.

Crane knew he was getting at the ends of his days in kung fu, and even as a citizen of the Empire he simply would not tag along to accomplish such 'honor' to serve the Emperor.

Master Shifu surely would say something of how much value importance and how much honor it would bring to your name to sacrifice yourself for the one of greatest importance. But then again why to sacrifice yourself for someone who you own absolutely nothing?

If the Emperor was really a dedicated and concerned man about his domains China simply wouldn't be on the need of kung fu at all. Oogway had his reasons to come over here, at first kung fu was a art, but then it became a weapon to defend the hopeless against the huge criminality that spread over the years.

The more he though about it the more convinced Crane was getting about everything the Renegades talked about the Empire. They didn't seem to care much, if they really cared they would've done a lot more than what was done so far.

Taking the side of the Renegades would be the easiest solution but also risky. Not only that could set them as traitors of the Empire but also it was hard to believe the Renegades would be trustworthy.

_'No matter how hard you try, things always get complicated at the end'_ Crane though with certain sadness. He had a deep desire of just fleeing from China with Mei Ling and his family, but then he couldn't just do that. Crane still felt he would have people to help, and Mei Ling probably would think the same, unless...

The waterfowl have been pondering over the idea of finally asking Mei Ling, but then he still has serious doubts, maybe it was too early. It would be better to set things right with his mother and Shen first.

"Look, I'm fine. I know where the room is, maybe you can trust me to find my own room,"  
>Speaking of Shen.<p>

Crane slowly raised his head so he could watch as the silhouettes of Shen and probably his mother were passing in front of the door.

"Of course, but then we have a procedure to follow so I need to make sure everything in your room is on place, you wouldn't mind a minute for checking I'm pretty sure," Madame Jien said with a strange hint of happiness.

Crane raised an eyebrow. This surely was strange.

Normally the waterfowl would follow after them, but then he didn't want to risk waking up the mountain cat laying nearby him, it's been quite a while since he saw her so happy while sleeping. Pretty much the last time was when they were still at the academy.  
>Speaking of the Academy, Crane wondered who Mei Ling let in charge over things there, and if she let anyone know where she was going or how she was doing, they probably must be worried.<p>

Once morning arrives the waterfowl felt like reminding her about the subject just to make sure.

In the mean time he hoped Shen would behave properly with his mother.

**Meanwhile...**

"!?What are yo-

Shen's voice died quickly as he was pin down over the bed, strong feathers shutting his beak firmly. His ruby eyes stared at fear to the female crane.

"Now, now. Just relax and enjoy, I'm not going to hurt you, by the contrary. I'm just looking for a good time, I'm sure you look forward for this. I could realize that you also haven't been in such experience for many years. Just makes me wonder how much you desire."

Crazy women!Shen was wondering if she was trying to scare the heck out of him. She truly was meaning what he was thinking about?!The peacock felt rather...apprehensive.

He simply could not deny he would like this, but it was Crane's mother!What if he finds out?!Besides Shen felt that Fenghuang wouldn't be happy to know about this at all. But then why he was concern about Fenghuang?

Shen tried to say something but Madame Jien kept his beak grasped, after moaning angrily for quite few seconds she finally let the grip loose.

"This...is...I mean...but your son..."

Madame Jien frowned.

"My son is fine and happy with his girlfriend, if he can have fun why can't I?" She asked as if was simple. Shen felt like giving her a nasty retort. "Now let's take off those metal claws of yours."

At this Shen panicked and tried to react, but she pinned him upside down with ease, which made Shen wonder about his true physical condition. After some seconds she slowly managed to take off his coverings. What she saw surprised her.

Shen had scars running down all over his feet, some seemed somewhat recent while others darkened with time, the worse being one beneath his left foot that was simply scattered.

The female waterfowl slowly went her wing over his feet as if examining every scar. Shen waited patiently for her to say something that would simply humiliate him more than he already felt.

"Shen...how did you got burned so badly?"

The peacock felt his beak drop a little. That wasn't the reaction he feared from years of hiding his injuries. He knew that one day someone would see what went underneath his coverings and he always feared for that, but after Gongmen he lost much of his pride, maybe that's because he felt like he could handle whatever people would say. Despite the fact he still had several flaws in his feathers.

"I...used to work with metal...and I went careless...and...well," Shen felt the memories were too painful to remember.

"Ohh, poor you, don't worry. I have something that will deal with those scars in no time. In the mean time..."

Shen's eyes widened at shock as his whole body stiffened instantly when he felt the touch of a tongue running across beneath his foot.

"Let's have our fun."

**Meanwhile...**

"Are you two alright?" Asked Ryuu as he checked over Po and Paol at their current room.

"Yeah, we good. What about you?" Po replied. Ryuu chuckled.

"I'm good, just trying to get in my head the fact I have an old brother I never heard about. I wish mother would've told me," The crane said with disappointment.

"Hey, don't worry, you mother had her reasons. She just wouldn't want you to worry about a brother you never saw before, maybe it was better to move life having only to worry about each other," Paol said while studding some scrolls he was carrying during the voyage.

"Maybe you're right, besides were are you two from anyway?" Ryuu asked as he lend himself against the wall. Po felt uneasy talking with him, he seemed so much like Crane but the fact he wasn't carrying a straw hat and his voice was a bit hoarse made the difference more evident.

"You don't know us?" Po asked being quite surprised. Ryuu shook his head negatively. "I'm Po, the Dragon Warrior,"

Ryuu let his beak fell open.

"No way!You?!For real!?" The crane asked being shocked but also impressed.

"Yeah, huh...plus I guess you must know your brother is Master Crane, one of the Furious Five," The panda replied while scratching his neck timidly. Ryuu's beak shut firmly instantly. What was once an impressive stare turned to one of pure disbelief.

"What?Him?!He's THE Master Crane?!"

For some reason this information did not pleased Ryuu too much, it didn't took longer for Po and Paol to notice that.

"Hum...yeah, something wrong?" Paol asked while raising an eyebrow. Ryuu did not replied, just stood there frowning with clear resignation.

"I don...wait?Wasn't there another bird in this group?" Ryuu asked all of sudden leaving his momentary anger.

"Oh, yeah. I think you mother took Shen to show off his room," Po said calmly. Ryuu went pale.

"Oh no!She didn't took her Jangsee yet!We have to find her!" The crane said becoming desperate all of sudden. Paol and Po stared at confusion.

"Jangsee?" Po asked.

"What's the matter?What happens if she don't have that thing you said?" Paol asked being slightly worried. Ryuu tried to catch his breath.

"She...well, let's say Shen, if he's not enough lucky, will have his tail stuck in a hole,"

"Are you serious?!" Paol asked being quite shocked and alarmed.

"What does that mean?" Po asked being clueless.

"You don't wanna know, I'm gonna look for her now," Ryuu said turning to leave quickly as possible. Po and Paol took a minute to assimilate what just happened.

"Should we help him?" The panda asked uncertain. Paol reflected over it rapidly.

"Maybe, who knows what kind of seriousness this might be, let's go."

**Meanwhile...**

Crane felt the waves of sleep washing over him slowly as his eyes were closing and he was about to fall asleep when a sudden bang came from his door. His eyes instantly snapped open as he took a sit(somehow) to watch at the door.

"What-

"Open the door!PLEASE!"

Crane stared at shock.

"Shen?What the...what are you doing?"

"JUST OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

Crane jumped from the bed, he heard Mei Ling motioning behind him as she slowly was awakening up. Whatever Shen wanted already was getting the waterfowl quite annoyed.

"Urgh, fine, you better have a good reason for doing t-

Just as Crane opened the door Shen kick trough it slamming over him.

"Dammit Shen!What in the name of-

"Ssshhhhhhhh!Quiet fool!Or she'll find me!"

Crane eye's went wide. Was Shen going crazy or did he do something really wrong?

"Shen, you better tell me what's going on, and...WHY THE HELL YOU'RE NAKED?!"

The peacock went off him and stared around for a corner where he could cover, in the mean time Mei Ling had awoken and stared at both of them while being sleepy.

"Hon?What's going on?" She asked slowly. While still looking frantically around Shen couldn't miss what she said.

"Hon?" The peacock asked rather ironically and stared at Crane, the waterfowl blushed slightly.

"It's nothing Mei, I think Shen had a nightmare," The waterfowl retorted with mockery, but instead of making the peacock angry that only made him quite frustrated.

"I wish it could have been a damn nightmare, but it was real!REAL!"

Crane and Mei Ling kept staring at him, not understanding what was going.

"Why you're naked?!" Mei Ling asked staring at Shen with mid interest.

"Shen, take a breath and tell us what happened," Crane said as if trying to calm the peacock's nerves. After a whole minute he managed to do it.

"Well, you see...you mother took me towards my room, but then she started asking me things...and then...well, things went a bit off h-

Before Shen could keep up with the explanation Crane pinned him down with both wings at Shen's neck.

"Jien, stop it!" Mei Ling yelled jumping from the bed instantly.

"Shen!WHAT YOU DID WITH MY MOTHER?!" Crane asked rather enraged and afraid. Same could be told about the peacock.

"I DID NOTHING YOU FOOL!GET OFF ME!I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!SHE'S THE ONE WHO STARTED IT, I SWEAR!" Shen yelled back while trying to released the grip of Crane's wings over his neck. Mei Ling came to the side to make sure Crane would pass the limits.

"THEN WHAT HAPPENED?!TELL ME OR-

"Yuhuuu!Where are you my little peacock?"

A melodious voice came by making Crane shut off instantly, he recognized it by being of his mother. His eyes stared in horror at the door.

Madame Jien was standing at the door with a rather dreaming expression, her eyes locked over the peacock that Crane was about to asphyxiate, plus the fact she was also naked.

"Oh, there you are my honey pot, are you ready for round two?" She asked while stepping closer. Shen shook violently trying to get free from Crane.

"DON'T LET HER GET ME!"

Crane and Mei Ling were totally dumbfounded.

"Mom, what are you doing?!"

But she seemed to ignore him as she came closer.

"Come here to mommy, you still didn't have your milk."

If there was something she could say that would totally disturb everyone, especially Shen, it just could be that.

"NOOOOO!CRANE!DO SOMETHING!KILL ME!OR HER!I DONT CARE!"

Crane wasn't sure what to say, but what he did was to let go off Shen and stop his mother instead.

"What's happening with her?" Mei Ling asked eyeing the female crane curiously. In the mean time Crane stopped his mother holding her by the shoulders.

"Mom, just stop acting weird!" Crane asked being extremely worried. The female crane seemed way off her own, she stared at empty space for a second then turned her head to stare at Crane.

"Oh, how cute you and handsome you are, how about a kiss?" She asked smiling rather strangely. Crane was starting to freak out.

"Mom, wh-

Crane was cut off as his mother planted a deep kiss on his beak.

"ARRGHHHH!"

The waterfowl pushed her of harshly as he tried to absorb the shock of what just happened, Mei Ling seemed to be on the verge of fury. Shen took his chance to hide behind the bed.

Crane fell down as his mother pushed him down, the waterfowl did the best to contain her assault without hurting her somehow. Mei Ling tried to pull her off Crane but the female waterfowl was firmly gripped into her son.

"What is wrong with her?!" Mei Ling asked rather enraged.

Just at that moment Ryuu showed at the door, without ceremony he entered and grabbed Madame Jien's beak, forced a little bottle with unknown liquid into her throat.

"Ryuu!What are you doing?"

Before Crane could get an answer Madame Jien dropped off unconscious over him. The waterfowl blinked.

"I'm sorry, but mother has been having some...issues from since few years ago, she needs special treatment for it ever since," Ryuu explained very slowly, in the mean time he was dragging Madame JIen over his shoulder. "I'll take her back to her room...in the mean time...I think you and Shen had to set things right."

All of them merely watched as he left the door without looking back with Madame Jien hanging unconscious over his shoulders.

Crane, Shen and Mei Ling all stared silently at the door. What just happened was to unreal to believe. All of sudden Paol showed at the door.

"Hey, are you three all righ...WHY YOU'RE ALL NAKED?!"

Crane blinked. Then stared at his own to realize that he really wasn't wearing any clothes, also same could be told about Mei Ling. The mountain cat quickly covered herself with the bed sheets while blushing furiously. Thankfully Paol didn't took notice over her too much.

"Errr...well, you see...Mei Ling and I were sleeping together, and then Shen came by an-

"You know what?I don't wanna know," Paol said raising his hands quickly for Crane to stop talking. "I'm going back to bed, and you three just get over whatever you're doing and do the same, we have a long day tomorrow."

Right after saying that the renegade withdraw from the room. Crane moved back to the bed only to find Shen sitting over it nearby Mei Ling.

"What was that?" Crane asked to no one no particular. The peacock sighed.

"You tell me later, or maybe not, I don't think I really wanna know. Your mother is a figure," Shen said sounding curiously tired.

"Shen...I...sorry about that little outburst, I didn't mean to...you know," Crane said feeling rather ashamed. The peacock chuckled.

"I understand, if I was you I would've felt the same, I don't blame you. Even so I still await an apologize for calling me a murderer."

Shen flinched a bit, he didn't mean to say that, but it came out before he could restrain himself. Crane was clearly conflicted.

There was a cold silence after that, Crane kept his gaze towards the floor, he did not have the straw hat to cover his eyes this time, which were displaying nothing but sadness. Mei Ling watched carefully both of them waiting for something to happen. Shen kept his firm stare at the waterfowl, looking for some remorse to be displayed over the crane's face. Crane turned to stare eye to eye.

He didn't get disappoint.

"I'm truly sorry for being such an ass to you back at the Valley, what I said was totally unfair and rather unforgiving. I just wanted you to know that I just said that because I've been told by someone I really trust. I really believed it to be true, and maybe the shock of such drove me a little crazy. I always believed I've been abandoned when I was a kid. But I was clearly wrong about everything. About me, my parents, about Mei Ling, about Fenghuang, about Po...and about you. I seriously hope you can forgive me for that."

Shen maintained eye contact for a bit longer, but when it came clear that Crane would keep it for longest possible the peacock let out a sigh.

"I understand, I do understand how hard it is...to lose your family. Perhaps not by the same way you had lost yours, but I do understand the feeling. To be honest I truly envy you...you still have your mother."

"Shen, m-

"I don't need your pity, but I forgive you..." Shen cut off whatever the waterfowl was about to say, but Crane refused to let it go.

"You don't have to be alone anymore, you can a family again Shen, as long as you care for each of them as you would care for your mother and father."

"A family?How's that possible?I don't have any relates anymore," The peacock asked rather confused. Mei Ling decided to drop into the conversation.

"He didn't say it had to be blood related Shen, a family can also be consisted of people you love and love you back, independent if blood related or not," The mountain cat said in a very motherly tone of voice which surprised Crane. Shen seemed clearly tense.

"So...you're saying...I..." He hesitated, not clearly sure of what to say next. Crane seemed to get his line of thought.

"What were are saying is...or even better, asking. Shen...would you like to make part of our family?"

"What seemed a simply question to Crane and Mei Ling came to Shen as a huge weight over a decision of incredible epic proportions. His eyes widened as he felt his hearth inch painfully.

What this true?Wasn't he dreaming?These people...they truly loved him and cared about him that much?Wasn't this some sort of trick of some kind?

But this couldn't be...

"W-what?M-me?But after all the things I did...I really don't deserve this much..." Shen said on clear resignation. Crane didn't want to heard about such.

"Everyone deserves a second chance,and to be honest you're behaving much better than me lately. I'm the one to be ashamed for my pitiful acts over the last weeks. I probably let down a lot of people, but then I knew it would happen, I couldn't stand that old lifestyle anymore, wasn't for that accident at Gongmen City I probably wouldn't have met with Mei Ling again, and who knows what else?" The waterfowl said trying to give some more safety for the peacock.

"If I never existed you would still have your parents, and Po his, and mother and father would have lived longer..."

Crane realized he was trying to dig into a wall made of stone, and to get to the other side was going to be really difficult, sure it would take time but he would get there no matter what.

"There's no way to know...and if you keep thinking about the past you'll lose the life still ahead of you. I'm not saying you did nothing wrong, but it's time to make up for those mistakes, and you can bet you can count with me and Mei Ling to help you, no matter what."

Again Shen stared silently at the crane nearby him, there were so many doubts and wonders in mind, but it always amazed him how Crane would always keep his cool no matter how extraordinary the situation would develop against him, of course he wasn't made of stone. There were times like moments ago that Crane would lose his own, but always he had good reasons for it.

"Do you trust me?" Shen asked. Crane chuckled.

"I already said I do, remember?"

"What about you?" Shen asked to Mei Ling, she smiled gently back at him.

"I trust you as well."

Shen nodded silently, he felt that it would be the next question that would define everything. He swallowed hard his pride. Once again he stared at the waterfowl.

"Do you love me?"

The question clearly caught Crane off guard. He let out a nervous chuckle.

"You mean like family, right?" Shen rolled his eyes.

"Of course," Crane sighed relieved. He stared firmly at Shen so there was no doubt.

"I do."

"Me too," Mei Ling said right after.

"I...I..." Shen tried to say something, but felt loss at words. Too many emotions coming out all of sudden, all the anger disappeared now replaced by the pain he held for so many years. He tried to close his eyes to hide the tears, but no matter how hard he tried they came nonetheless. As he tried to contain his cry he felt the contact of soft fur and feathers at his sides. Mei Ling and Crane gently hugged the peacock as he fell on his silent cry, letting out the pain of the misery he felt after the day he was ban, and since he learned about the death of his parents.

He finally felt it for sure...he wasn't alone anymore.

It took few minutes for Shen to finally settle down a bit, as Mei Ling decided to dress a bit to not be fully exposed after Crane insisted on it. The waterfowl tossed some clothing to the peacock as well. Shen didn't even cared anymore if it was just a bath robe. Better than nothing. It was then when Crane took notice of something.

"Shen, what happened with your feet?" The waterfowl asked looking were the peacock was standing at. Shen quickly froze, he already had a really frightening experience last time he talked about such to someone just moments ago. But for reasons he did not know yet he truly felt safe to talk about this with them.

After what took minutes Shen explained the incident while doing his experiments for his weapons and how ever since he used the metal claws to disguise the injuries plus the fact the claws proved to be very useful in combat.

"So that's why, I'm sure there a way to get rid of these scars, unless you want to keep using the coverings," Mei Ling said while looking closely at the peacock's talons.

"I'll keep using them, but it would be nice to not have to do it all the time," Shen said rather embarrassed.

"Sounds good, it's getting late, why you don't sleep with us for the rest of the night?" Crane asked very kindly. Shen was clearly worried.

"I don't want to invade the privacy of you both, if you know what I mean," Shen said nervously. Crane and Mei Ling eyed each other while smirking. Shen gulped at the sight.

'I hope I don't get myself wishing Crane's mother was still conscious.'

"Don't worry, we won't bite you," Mei Ling said half-joking, half seriously.

"I'm thrilled," The peacock retorted sarcastically. Crane laughed.

"Someone is learning sarcasm pretty well."

"Well, you had to be the master of something, isn't that right?" Shen retorted. Now it was Mei Ling's turn to laugh.

"He's getting really good at it,"

"Let's just go to sleep already," Crane said jumping over the bed, what he did not expect was to see Shen between him and Mei Ling. "What you're doing here?"

"I don't intend to sleep on the floor, there's only one bed, good night," Shen merely said before closing his eyes. Crane looked over him to see Mei Ling just shrugging.

"Urgh, good night then," 'This is so weird'

**A/N: Sorry folks, I wished I have written more but I spent the whole night remaking these last chapters, last 3 weeks I spent moving out of house so I had literally no time to work in the fic. But I'll get all chapters here before end of year.**


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